NGE: Ascent Of The Fallen
by RanmaSaotome103
Summary: ShinjiAuska The Angels have been defeated. Tarbis has decided to fall & walk amongst humanity. But a new foe has come The Archangels. Will the pilots stop them or fail humanity.
1. NGE: AOTF 00

**Comment:**

Hello Just a clarification I DO NOT Take any recognition for this story. I also would like to clarify that I spent days trying to find Sparky's website Heaven's Gate But found it gone. My reason for posting this story is for the enjoyment for others this story I thought was like the Mona Lisa of stories I posted it because I had a copy of it more that 6 years ago. I posted this so others could enjoy his work & let the story & him be remembered.  
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**NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: ASCENT OF THE FALLEN**

By Sparky Clarkson

**Foreword:**

I suppose you'll skip this part most people do. Those who don't do that always complain about the author's putting this section before the story, instead of at the end where it can be more conveniently ignored. But the beginning is the natural place to put these notes, because these feelings came about before the story.

So if you've read these sentences I'd like to invite you to read a few more before you begin my little novella. I promise it won't hurt too much. Everyone has a reason for writing fanfiction. Some writers just want to expand the series that they loved. Others hope to live vicariously in the experiences of the show's characters (hence self-insert fics).

I decided to write the story you will shortly (I hope) begin reading because I had something to say. Some of the feelings stirred in me by the GAINAX production Neon Genesis Evangelion wanted expression, and the universe of Eva was the perfect place to express them.

That's not all, of course. I wanted some of those other reasons, too. I found myself profoundly dissatisfied by the ending of the series and by the movies. The television finale did not serve the plot of the series well, and the movie did the same to the themes and characters. Sadly, neither one could repair the deficiencies of the other. I believed that something more, something better could be done. So I wrote. This is what came out, starting from a single image I had of Shinji standing between Gendo and Kaoru. To say more about that image would ruin your surprise later on, but I think you'll know when you see it.

This story also expresses some of my beliefs about story writing in general. I've tried to emulate the methods of the old masters of science fiction, back when it and fantasy were really interesting. These days, speculative fiction (SF, Fantasy, Horror) has developed a tendency to produce ridiculously huge, unfocused books and series.

I wanted to take things back to the way they were, if only for one story. I hoped, with Ascent, to recapture the feel of those old sci-fi serials that used to be in magazines. You'd read each one, and then you couldn't wait until the next month for the following installment.

I hope you enjoy the experience, and I hope it has tightened my writing style. On a final note, I must admit with regret that the characters, technology, and society depicted in this story are not my own invention. They are the intellectual property of Anno Hideaki and GAINAX Films, Inc., and are here used without license.

I offer this story as free entertainment to fans of the series, and host it without profit to myself. The plot of this story is my intellectual property. I offer unlimited rights to distribute and store this work in electronic form, provided that no alterations are made to the text beyond those required for formatting. Any profit made from the knowing distribution, storage, or display of this story must be remitted in full to GAINAX Films, Inc. as a licensing fee. That's all from me. Please enjoy the story as it comes out.

--Sparky

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**Prologue:**

"I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out..."  
(Ezekiel 11:19)

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The white marble disk that formed the floor of the room felt warm to the nude boy kneeling at its center. His pale skin, a match for the color of the stone beneath him, did not recoil from the living rock as it might have from the cold blaze of steel. The boy had bowed his head, his unruly grey hair hiding his red eyes from view.

Nonetheless, he sensed every aspect of the room around him. Evenly spaced around the perimeter of the white disk, hovering between the stone circle and the glowing grey mist that lay beyond it, floated 10 monoliths. Most of them also glowed, each suffused with an inner illumination. All of the simple rectangular prisms were formed of different materials, yet each had something in common with its neighbors an underlying similarity, beyond a likeness of shape, that unified the disparate emanations.

Ahead of him and to his right was a glass monolith, all but invisible compared to the others. It alone did not glow, yet something about it nonetheless drew the boy's eye. To the right of it floated a series of seven smaller, glowing monoliths, each formed of a different material: gold, moonstone, silver, onyx, ruby, aquamarine, and emerald. Each was twice as tall as the boy, and three times as broad.

After that was a slightly larger monolith of diamond, glowing somewhat more brightly than the seven.

Directly in front of the boy floated the largest monolith, constructed of sapphire. However, neither the boy nor anyone else who might have been in the room could bear to look directly at it. No brighter than any of the others, it was nonetheless greater, as if the radiance pouring from it encompassed the entire spectrum incomprehensible in its vastness. All the other lights in the circle were but single tones to the symphony of its light.

No being could come to grips with such illumination, and so all bowed their heads in deference to the inconceivable.

A voice emanated from the sapphire, saying, "You know that this choice will change everything, do you not?" This indeed was a symphony: the mellifluous tones seemed to be created by every single particle of air, as if the universe itself spoke for the light in the sapphire. The memory of the sound lingered long after it was gone, like the last note of a sweetly tolling bell, inspiring an almost painful longing to hear it again.

The boy bowed his head lower. "I know, Father. But truly, I have no choice no power over my heart," he said.

There was a rustling sound from the seven smallest monoliths in the circle, but this stilled quickly when the voice again emanated from the sapphire. "Do you then leave me, Tabris, as so many have before? Have you chosen another to worship?" it asked.

Tabris shook his head. "_L ilha ill Allh,_" he replied, "I have not chosen to worship another. I have decided to surrender my eternal life for the one I love." A tear formed in his right eye.

Now a voice emanated from the diamond monolith. "I have seen his heart," it said, its tones similar to those from the light in the sapphire, but somehow more strident. "True love has guided him, not base lust."

The supreme light did not reply that it knew this already doing so would only repeat the obvious. "Then, Tabris, I have reason to make judgment," it announced.

Tabris bowed his head lower again. "I cast myself upon your mercy," he replied. "As you have asked, so shall it be done. My plan continues. The day of glory approaches. Let all know the consequences," the voice from the sapphire monolith announced. "Go in my love, Tabris," it added warmly. "Thank you, Lord," the boy replied.

A chorus from the seven seats quickly drowned him out. "So let it be written, so let it be done. Amen," chanted the choir of lights. Beneath his breath, Tabris whispered, "It is my choice..."

And then he was gone.

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Next week: Part One: "And now art thou cursed from the earth..."

Sparky


	2. NGE: AOTF 01

**NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: ASCENT OF THE FALLEN**

By Sparky Clarkson

**Part One:**

"And now art thou cursed from the earth..." (Genesis 4:11)

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Shinji did not notice the throbbing ache in his lower back. The dull pain had begun three days ago a stupid idea, sleeping on the floor and it had not abated since. After all, Shinji had done nothing to take care of it. And even had he paid some attention to his injuries, the aching of his back would not have been detected over the agonizing pain in his heart.

So Shinji did not move, though his spine might have appreciated it. He remained curled up in the chair, his arms wrapped around his legs, his chin on his knees perched on the edge, his balance precarious. The cold, Clorox-scented air of the hospital room would have made his eyes water, had he not already been struggling to hold back a stream of tears.

Asuka lay on her side, facing him. Her white gown, white sheets, and now-pale skin made both her red hair and vacantly staring blue eyes stand out all the more. She had been like that all morning.

Shinji had shown up at nine, when the nurses fed Asuka and rolled her on her side. Unable to help them, he had watched uselessly as they did their work his incompetence at even those simple tasks a reminder of his general helplessness. Once the nurses had gone, he had curled up in the chair to watch Asuka.

And in the hours since, neither one had moved. The scene might have been peaceful, or even loving, if Asuka's stare had not been so vacant, if the bags under Shinji's eyes were smaller, if his cheeks were less hollow and emaciated. As it was, the scene cried of pain. Pain from Shinji's uncomfortable position, pain from Asuka's empty eyes, pain from the chilled, clammy air of the hospital. Pain, held in check only by the fact that both children were unable to open the doors of their souls to each other.

Four hours. It took that long for the dam to break. But it did, with the tiniest of cracks. Shinji slowly unfolded from his cramped position and grabbed Asuka's hand. "Say something Asuka," he whispered. "Please. Yell at me, Asuka... Call me a name... Call me stupid," he begged, but only the walls of the empty room replied, echoing the word "stupid" for a moment after it left his lips. Shinji squeezed his eyes closed, and a tear rolled out, escaping along the side of his nose to wet his lips.

Shinji did not notice. "I am stupid," he said aloud. "What can I do for you... what can I do for anyone? I've killed my friends, or hurt them, or driven them away, all because I'm such a coward."

"And look at me! I'm here beside your bed, you're dying, and all I can talk about is myself. I'm hopeless..."

Still, Asuka made no sound, no reaction. Shinji squeezed her hand. Much as contact frightened him, he could not bring himself to release it. The silent girl was the last thing he had left. Or, perhaps, she was the last thing he had to say goodbye to.

"I wish I could help you wake up," he said, "I want you to be happy again..." His voice trailed off in futility. Another tear escaped the crystalline prison of his eye. After a long pause, he said, "I'm so sorry Asuka. I... I'm useless. Everyone hates me.

"But...

"But I...

"I...

"I l... love you."

Shinji closed his eyes again in shock. He hadn't expected to say that really hadn't known what he was going to say at all. _So what do I do now?_ he thought, I_'ve told her the truth, and she can't even hear me_. Shinji gazed unhappily at Asuka's blankly staring face, and said, "I should have told you before. If you knew how much you meant to me, maybe... maybe this wouldn't have happened. It's all my fault again." Unbidden, unnoticed, a third tear rolled down his cheek.

Shinji wrapped both his hands around Asuka's. Ordinarily, touching her would have terrified him, but he was too far gone now to have the same old fears. The walls of his psyche had been shattered, perhaps permanently. Shinji had nothing left to lose. "Please come back, Asuka," he whispered, but she did not respond.

Another tear spilled out of Shinji's eye. _Maybe_, he thought, _I can make her feel __**something...**_ Slowly, Shinji leaned forward, across the pillow and sheets. However, as his lips approached her face, and his feathery breath flowed across her cheek, something happened.

A whisper tore its way out of Asuka's throat, a refugee from the torment of her mind. A single word.

"Mommy..." she breathed, and then once more was silent. What little strength remained in Shinji's body evaporated in that instant. His shoulders slumped, and his legs buckled. He sank to his knees by the side of her bed, and buried his face in the sheets near her pillow to muffle the sobs he could no longer hold back.

Still...

He did not release her hand.

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Katsuragi Misato chugged down the can of beer in only a few seconds and tossed it over her shoulder, eliciting an angry squawk from Pen-Pen as the bird dodged the aluminum missile. The can landed unnoticed in one of the many piles of garbage now decorating her living room. Remote in hand, Misato bravely cruised the channels, listening out for any human voice in her loneliness.

There were three voices she would have particularly liked to hear. Two she might experience once more, but their temporary absence had caused her to drink the first three beers. The third she would never hear again, and was the reason for her drinking the six since.

Pen-Pen waddled over to the couch, staring inquisitively at Misato. "At least I still have you, Pen-Pen," Misato said, scooping the warm-water penguin into her arms. She squeezed the bird tightly, as if hoping that the warmth from its body could cure the coldness she felt in her chest. Her scar ached the ghost of pain gone, but not forgotten.

The late-night news came on. The anchorman was irritatingly cheerful, and smiled ingratiatingly into the camera as he spouted off the night's headlines. "Our sources in the United Nations have once again confirmed victory over an angel! One of the vile aliens is rumored to have infiltrated to the core of NERV itself! Details are sketchy, but we do know that the heroic pilot of EVA-01, Ikari Shinji, managed to stop the angel at the last moment, though reportedly he suffered great injury as a result."

Misato sniffled and whispered, "Do you hear that, Shinji? You're a hero. Everyone loves you." Her words were slurred only slightly nine beers were not quite enough to overcome Misato's powerful tolerance.

The anchorman continued in a very chipper voice, "We have also learned that NERV Commander Ikari Gendo will be giving a press conference with two Evangelion pilots tomorrow. Needless to say, this is the first time the secretive Commander has spoken with the public, and we are excited to be bringing you the very best coverage. Tune in tomorrow at 9 AM, an hour before the conference, for a special report on the recent operations of NERV and the heroic Evangelion pilots who defend Earth..."

The anchorman's voice was suddenly drowned out by a loud knock on the door.

Misato dumped Pen-Pen to the floor and jumped to her feet, her heart seeming to find its way into her throat. She paused, though. Her ears had played many cruel tricks on her in the past few days. How many times had she opened that door to see an empty hallway?

But the knocking came again. Misato dashed through the room, knocking over a small mound of garbage, and yanked the door open as fast as she could. Her heart fell, though, as she saw a nervous looking Hyuga Makoto standing outside, still in his NERV uniform.

"Oh," she said unhappily, "it's you."

"I... I can leave, if y-you don't want me here," Makoto stammered, taken aback by her depressed exclamation.

Misato shook her head. "No, no, come in, please. I was just hoping..."

Makoto entered, and asked, "Is Shin..." but stopped immediately as he noticed tears gathering in Misato's eyes. A moment passed, and then he said, "I'm sorry... if I'm intruding..."

Misato pushed him along towards the couch a bit and said, "You're not. This place is so empty not even any neighbors around. It's nice to have someone else to talk to." Pen-Pen squawked angrily, but shut up as she kicked a beer can neatly towards his head. Two important things to say entered her mind at that moment, and as her head was slightly hazy with alcohol Misato tried to say both of them at once: "Do you... I'm sorry... want a... this place is... beer? ...such a mess."

Misato shook her head and stood up a little straighter. Now Makoto looked confused _and_ nervous. Misato concentrated for a moment, and said, "Sorry this place is such a mess. Do you want a beer?"

Makoto smiled and shook his head. The confusion evaporated, leaving the nervousness behind. "I was just in the neighborhood..." he began, but Misato interrupted.

"I thought you lived in another sector."

Makoto laughed, though it sounded forced. "Yeah, well... with all the traffic rerouting since Rei's... accident... I get confused a lot. I got turned around and recognized the street. I thought I'd drop by to see how you were doing."

Misato sighed and slumped down into a chair. Makoto took a tentative step towards her, but stopped, uncertain of what to do.

Misato blew some hair out of her face. "It's hard," she said. "I miss the children so much... and as you can see, no one bothers to clean up around here anymore."

Makoto smiled again, and some of his nervousness disappeared. This, at least, was a situation he was familiar with. "I could help," he said, and promptly began to gather trash into the proper bins.

Misato watched him for a moment. _This isn't right,_ she thought, _It should be Shinji doing this..._ Her eyes teared up briefly, and then she thought, _Grow up, Misato... it shouldn't have been Shinji either..._ Misato stood up and began to lend a hand.

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Fuyutsuki Kouzou snorted in disbelief. "You think we can repel an assault without Dr. Akagi? When she was here, we survived almost by chance! How can we expect to do as well without her?"

Ikari Gendo frowned at the older man and replied, "Even so. After the incident with the eleventh angel, I had her create a program that will foil any unauthorized attempts to download data from the Magi. With that protocol in hand, the expertise of our remaining staff will be sufficient."

Kouzou frowned at the younger man's seeming overconfidence, but said nothing. Several moments ticked away in the commander's office as the two men faced each other, arguing without speaking. As always,

Kouzou lost, turning away from the steady stare behind the orange-tinted glasses. Gendo finally added, "Do not worry, Fuyutsuki. SEELE will attack... they must attack. There is no other way. Unless they know everything that we do, they cannot hope to use NERV for their own purposes. And when they try to get that information, we will be ready. There is nothing to fear."

Kouzou nodded a sharp gesture, indicating at once that he acquiesced and that he hated to do so. He turned to leave, but stopped himself and turned back towards the commander of NERV.

"Gendo," he said, "about the children..."

"Hm?"

"What is to be done with them?"

"I have plans for them," Gendo said. "For the time being, they are needed here."

Kouzou replied, "I think they might deserve... a rest. Rei and Shinji at least. I doubt anything can be done for the Second."

Gendo shook his head. "If it becomes useful, they will get a rest. For now, they must remain here--particularly for tomorrow's conference. If we are to achieve the final end, the world must have heroes to praise. Make sure that they both arrive on time, and in uniform."

Kouzou nodded, resigned to the fact that he would not change his superior's mind. "They will be ready," he replied. Once more he turned to go, and once more he stopped. But this time, he was prevented from going not by his conscience, but instead by his commander.

"Kouzou?" Gendo asked.

"Yes?" the vice-commander said, turning around. He noticed that Gendo had removed the glasses, and was rubbing the area below his eyes.

"I am aware that Rei has taken to sleeping inside NERV headquarters."

"Indeed."

"And that Shinji has not been back to Major Katsuragi's apartment in some time."

"True."

"Kouzou, do you know... where he is?"

Kouzou frowned for a moment, and then issued a one-word reply.

"Yes."

A long pause ensued, as Gendo and Kouzou stared at each other once again. But this time, oddly, it was Gendo who looked away. Without the glasses, his gaze lost much of its power. "Very well," he said, slipping the amber-tinted lenses back on, "Make sure he is not exposed to danger from SEELE operatives."

"It will be done."

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The bed was empty this night, just as it had been the last two nights. Still, Shinji had not gotten into it. Curled up in a fetal position, he slept fitfully on the uncomfortable floor. But unyielding though it was, the hard floor was not the cause of Shinji's inconsistent sleep. Dreams kept him from peaceful slumber...dreams filled with pain.

As he dozed, Shinji's mind was filled with visions of Kaoru. Kaoru laughing... Kaoru humming the "Ode to Joy"... Kaoru lying in the bed, smiling gently at him. And over it all, Shinji heard the words

Kaoru had said to him; words Shinji had so desperately needed someone to say to him. But the joy in these dreams was short-lived. The darkness of Kaoru's betrayal crept into Shinji's mind, and all he could see was Kaoru's face as the massive hand of EVA-01 crushed him into oblivion. The dream ended as it always did: as the last bones in his body snapped and were obliterated, Kaoru turned to Shinji and mouthed, accusingly, "I love you."

Shinji sprang awake, trembling and tense in every muscle. His damp hair hung down on his forehead, and his nightclothes were plastered to him by a sheen of sweat. Convulsively, his hands clenched into fists, unclenched, and then clenched again. The fury was back in him the same fury that followed this dream every time he'd had it for three nights. At last he could not hold back any longer.

With a cry that was half scream, half sob, he threw himself at the floor, pounding away with fists, elbows, feet, and knees venting his anger and terrible pain against a foe that would not yield.

Eventually, he ran out of energy something that happened more quickly every night. Sprawled bruised on the floor of Kaoru's apartment, he breathed heavily for a while before he drifted back into a fitful sleep. And the dream began again.

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The apartment looked much better for the cleaning it had just been given, and the orchestrators of the change now sat together on the couch, each nursing a beer. Makoto had relaxed a great deal since the cleaning had ended, though he still cast occasional nervous glances at Misato. Both were silent, but somehow the absence of sound now seemed far more wholesome than the droning of the television before Makoto had arrived.

At last, Misato shook her head and said, "Forcing a guest to clean up my place! People will say such awful things about me!"

Makoto blushed slightly, and said, "Oh no! It's no trouble... there's nothing else... the town's so..."

"Empty..." Misato finished for him. "I miss the children..."

"I miss them too, Misato. I..." Makoto lost track of what he was trying to say. He spent several seconds fishing fruitlessly for the right words, but eventually gave up and took another sip from his beer. He seemed unable to meet Misato's penetrating gaze.

_At a loss for words,_ she noted. _Once, I might have given up on someone for not being chatty enough. Makoto's not the most exciting guy, but he's dependable, and has a good conscience. How unlike my father he is..._

Makoto turned away, and quietly said, "I really should be going... I have my shift in the morning."

"So do I," Misato agreed.

Makoto stood, slurped down the last few drops of his beer, and tossed the can into the recycling bin. He then turned to leave.

Misato, seeing him turn, thought, _No... I can't do this alone. I need help..._ She stood and grabbed Makoto's hand. Her pull on it forced him to turn around with a yelp of surprise and confusion.

Misato looked into his eyes and said, "Please don't leave, Makoto. I can't stand to be alone... it... I..."

Makoto tentatively reached out and put an arm around her shoulders.

When she did not resist, he pulled her closer and said, "It's okay, Misato. I... I want to be here for you."

Misato sobbed, "Thank you," and began to cry.

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Keel's voice cut through the SEELE council chamber. "**THE TIME IS VERY NEAR. WE MUST MOVE SOON, OR ELSE WE MAY LOSE CONTROL OF NERV ENTIRELY**."

A voice replied, "**AND WHAT MOVE SHALL WE MAKE?**"

"**YES, HOW DO YOU INTEND TO ACCOMPLISH OUR GOAL?**" another added.

Keel said, "**WE SHALL ORCHESTRATE A LARGE-SCALE ATTACK ON THE MAGI. WITHOUT INFORMATION, GENDO IS POWERLESS**."

"**AND THEN WE SHALL REVEAL IKARI'S PLANS TO THE PUBLIC?**" added another.

"**OF COURSE**."

"**IT SHOULD BE DONE**."

"**GENDO IS GUILTY OF BETRAYING US FOR HIS OWN ENDS**."

"**HE MUST BE DESTROYED**."

"**THEN THIS ISSUE IS DECIDED**."

"**VERY WELL**," Keel said.

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Rei sat up slowly in the bed. She could see almost nothing in the darkness of the lowest levels of NERV headquarters, but then again, she wasn't truly looking for anything. The visions had come again, and with greater severity. They were not dreams, for they did not come while she was sleeping. The visions always intruded in the semiconscious limbo between wakefulness and slumber, and they were always the same.

She replayed the memory in her mind. The near-hallucination seemed as vivid to her now as it had when it was happening. Images, events, and sounds boiled up out of her subconscious and paraded themselves before her.

_**"Ayanami Rei," the boy said slowly, as if he were relishing every syllable. He smiled as his grey hair cascaded into his eyes, and continued "You are like me."**_

_**How can that be...?**_

_**Rei picked up Commander Ikari's broken glasses and began to crush them in her hands, letting her tears fall on the warping lenses.**_

_**Tears... why? And why did I feel I had seen them before?**_

_**The grey-haired boy looked up from his prison in EVA-01's fist and smiled at her.**_

_**For him, was death happiness? What is happiness for me? I think I knew happiness before... perhaps with Ikari-kun?**_

_**Shinji stared wide-eyed as Rei walked naked out of the bathroom.**_

_**Why did I not cover myself?**_

_**Rei set EVA-00 to self-destruct mode.**_

_**Does my soul want to become one with Ikari-kun?**_

_**Rei spun around and slapped Shinji. Surprised at her reaction, he just held his jaw as they continued down the escalator.**_

_**Did I do that to defend the commander? Or did I do it to defend myself?**_

"This is loneliness," she whispered, but the shadows devoured the sound before it could leave her squalid little area in the basement of NERV. Unbidden, another image came to her: that of Shinji crying when he pulled open her entry plug after the battle with Ramiel. Rei settled back down onto the bed, and pulled the sheets up. Somehow this memory made her feel more comfortable. _It feels good to know that someone cares about __**me**__, not just what I __**am**_ she realized.

Suddenly, another thought struck her. "Ikari-kun," she murmured, "Are you lonely, too?"

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Makoto's arm was asleep. He could tell that the numbness would be painful when he finally shifted and allowed an influx of blood to the appendage. That time would not be coming soon, however. Makoto dared not move the woman now sleeping with her head resting heavily on his upper arm. Makoto looked down at Misato, taking care not to shift his arm and wake her. Strange, he thought, taking in her reddened eyes and disheveled hair, She's even more beautiful like this.

A moment later, he nearly kicked himself. _Dammit, man!_ he yelled at himself, _How can you even think about that in this situation? She's worried sick about the children, depressed because of Kaji and Ritsuko, and on the verge of a nervous breakdown! And you've gotta go thinking with your dick!_ He calmed down after a moment and gazed at Misato again. _I have to do this the right way. I've got to focus on __**her**__ right now. I can wait..._

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The tone in NERV command was subdued the next morning. Aoba Shigeru and Makoto quietly sipped their coffee, relaxing at their usual posts. Ibuki Maya was staring into empty space. Their banter was mainly designed to keep the technicians awake while they waited for something to happen.

"You'd think they might have at least let us go to the conference, though," Shigeru was saying. "I mean, after all, we did help out a good bit. They couldn't have done much without our help."

"Oh yeah," Maya said, teasingly, "Your screaming like a girl during the invasion of the 11th angel was a masterpiece of strategy."

"I did not scream like a girl!" Shigeru snorted.

Makoto joined in, "Aw, lay off. At least we get to relax a bit while the boss is out of the office."

"Don't relax too much," Maya scolded. "Commander Ikari seemed to be expecting something. He told me to maintain utmost vigilance."

Shigeru started to make a mocking face at her, but straightened up immediately as Misato breezed into the command center. She winked at Makoto as she grabbed a cup of coffee. Makoto blushed a bit at that, and then reddened even further when he saw the quizzical stares Maya and Shigeru were leveling at him.

Misato ignored it all, and asked, "It's about time for the conference, isn't it?"

"Sure is," Makoto replied, relieved that something had come up to take attention away from him. He typed a quick command into his console. Most of the screens in the room flickered on to show a simple stage with a blue backdrop covered with United Nations emblems hung at the back. At the front of the stage stood a plain wooden podium, from which was hanging a small black sign bearing the NERV logo. The chief sign of the importance of the conference was the fan of mikes on the podium, which contained about 30 devices.

A conservatively dressed young woman walked out to the podium from the side of the stage, and announced Ikari Gendo, commander of the defense organization NERV. Polite applause came in over the speakers as Gendo walked to the podium, followed by Shinji and Rei.

Gendo was wearing the same outfit he always did on duty, but the expression he had on his face was so alien to the workers of NERV that Misato nearly dropped her coffee. His face seemed to be consumed by a large grin. "My god," Misato gasped, "he looks almost _friendly!_"

Shinji ended up standing to Gendo's right, and Rei to his left. Both were in their plugsuits, although Rei's arm was still in a sling.

Shinji looked even more awful than he had when Misato last saw him. His entire face looked hollow, as if he had been fasting for a week. The bags under his eyes and his slouched posture made it obvious he had not been sleeping.

Maya gasped a bit at the sight. "Ohh..." she squealed, "Shinji looks so terrible."

Misato sighed, "I bet that's the point. Gendo wants people to see how painful it is for the children to pilot those damn beasts." She said no more, but thought, _I'll bet he's even been doing something to keep Shinji in that state, to elicit more pity from the masses. What game is Gendo playing?_

Gendo stepped forward to the mikes and began to speak. "As some of you may have heard, the seventeenth angel, Tabris, was defeated three days ago. Many rumors have been flying around concerning the circumstances of this event, and I first want to address them. It is indeed true that the angel managed to infiltrate NERV using full credentials. We are still attempting to discern how he managed to attain these credentials, but until that time no new personnel will be admitted to NERV headquarters."

Makoto frowned. "He's being awfully free with information," he noted. "That's because there's some advantage for him in revealing it," Misato responded, mentally adding, _but what?_

Gendo's expression took on a harsh and unyielding aspect more familiar to the people of NERV as he continued, "This betrayal was a vile act that endangered all the members of the human race. Such base treachery must not be tolerated mankind cannot survive if people cannot trust one another. Rest assured, the perpetrators of this crime will be found. And once they are, they will be dealt with _most_ harshly."

_Ah... that's it_, Misato thought, _He's setting somebody up for a fall. But who?_ _He couldn't mean to take down SEELE, could he?_

Gendo somehow reconfigured his harsh face into a semblance of warmth as he continued, "Fortunately, this situation was salvaged by my son, Shinji, who defeated the infiltrator at the last minute. The price, as you can surely see, has been high for him, but he met the challenge bravely, and with honor. Words cannot express how proud of him I am." Then Gendo did the last thing anyone in the control room would ever have expected of him.

Misato gave up on self control, letting her mug fall to the floor and shatter. Maya's jaw dropped open, and Makoto looked like he was about to faint. Shigeru spit out the mouthful of coffee he had been about to swallow, fortunately managing to land most of it back into his cup. "My god!" he exclaimed, "Gendo hugged Shinji!"

_The poor kid's too far gone to even cringe_, Misato noted, her eyes beginning to tear up slightly. On the screen, Shinji impassively received his father's brief embrace, but managed a wan smile when the reporters assembled behind the TV camera politely applauded him. _That completes Gendo's move_, Misato thought, slipping back into a more analytical mode, _The loving father honors the heroic pilot, and both get deified by the public. That's what the world needs most, after all... adoring fans of Ikari Gendo who'll bow to his will._

Her train of thought derailed abruptly as alarms began wailing all through NERV headquarters. The technicians immediately turned to their consoles. Most screens turned to diagnostics and emergency warnings, but one, unnoticed, stayed tuned to the conference. "Magi are being hacked!" Maya exclaimed, her fingers dancing rapidly across the keyboard.

Fuyutsuki stormed into the command center. "Status!" he shouted angrily.

"Magi are being hacked by three... no, four! Four supercomputers of Magi type," Maya reported.

Fuyutsuki nodded. "We cannot hold off that many by hand," he said. "Implement security protocol IO."

Maya nodded. "Implementing," she said, her fingers already moving with blistering speed over the keyboard. A moment later, every screen in the room went dead. The alarm sirens cut off, leaving a ghostly echo behind in the sterile halls of NERV headquarters. "What's happening?" Shigeru asked, but nobody replied.

Maya continued to type in commands, staring intently at the blank screen in front of her. After a few seconds, her computer displayed a single query.

**Enter Confirmation Code:**  
She typed in a response.  
**ab initio**

The screens around the command center flickered briefly, then came on each of them displaying a portion of the Magi file structure.

The screens then split. At first, both halves showed an identical structure. Within seconds, however, the structure shown on the right half of the screen began to change with almost incomprehensible speed. Misato watched the displays for a few moments, but the constantly shifting mosaic began to make her eyes hurt.

Makoto stared at his screen, and noted, "The hacking hasn't stopped!"

"Yeah," Shigeru noted, "What exactly does this program do?"

Maya frowned. "I don't know all of it... sempai worked out the whole thing a while back. Basically, it sets up a fake file structure and reroutes all hacking attempts into it. The database looks just like the Magi as far as file structure but the data's not useful. It's just a patchwork of viruses, worms, and Trojan horses," she said.

"So the hacking computers get infected and crash," Misato concluded.

"Not before sending most of the files on the affected computers back to us," Maya responded.

The command center quieted down again, and the TV could once again be heard. Gendo was saying, "That's all for today, thank you. I assure you all, as soon as Miss Soryu is again well enough to leave the hospital, we will have another conference, at which you will also be allowed to ask questions of these young heroes. I thank you for your time."

The reporters responded almost in unison, "Oh no! Thank you!" Misato reached over and turned off the display as Kouzou said, "Notify Commander Ikari of the situation as soon as possible." As Makoto acknowledged the order, Misato stared at the blank screen, thinking, _He played them so easily..._

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The opulence of the limousine was lost on Shinji as he stared morosely out at the landscape passing by. He was facing towards the back of the large car, leaning up against the door. The mental and physical exhaustion he felt had made the conference go by in a blur.

He vaguely remembered that his father had hugged him, that the reporters had clapped for him, but he had only a shallow impression of these events they had barely registered in his mind.

Rei and Gendo sat opposite Shinji, in the forward-facing seat. As usual, Rei wore an essentially vacant expression, while Gendos face had lost the false warmth it had displayed at the press conference and settled back into its customary frown. The commander sat calmly in his seat, but the still scene was marred by a hint of movement around his knee, almost as if he were trying to control an impulse to tap his foot. He seemed to be getting impatient.

No one spoke.

Suddenly, the tableau was broken by the ringing of Gendo's mobile phone. Gendo pulled it out, and whispered something into Rei's ear.

As he flicked the phone open to answer it, Rei moved across the car to sit next to Shinji. Gendo began to speak into the phone with hushed tones.

Shinji didn't react as Rei sat down next to him he was content to ignore her. But after a few moments, Rei reached out and took his hand. The contact, even through the plugsuit, jolted Shinji out of his reverie. He turned to Rei, giving her an odd stare. They might have looked like two teens in love, but the gaunt sadness of Shinji's face, in combination with Rei's expressionless one, made them look more like the walking dead.

Quietly, Shinji asked, "Rei?"

"Yes?" she replied.

"Do you miss Asuka?"

A flicker of emotion crossed Rei's face, too brief and faint to be fully recognized. It might have been anger, or it might have been pain. A moment later, she replied, "I suppose."

Shinji slumped even further into the seat, closing his eyes to shut out the rest of the world. He'd hoped to at least have someone to talk about his pain with. But Rei seemed to have even less emotion now than when he first arrived at Tokyo-3. As the tears gathered in

Shinji's eyes, he whispered, "I can't take this loneliness anymore."

He felt a soft breath against his ear as Rei leaned over next to him and whispered, "You don't have to be lonely." Then he felt her good  
arm release his hand and wrap around his shoulders. Too exhausted to react with his usual reluctance, Shinji allowed Rei to shift him so that his body was resting up against hers, his head supported on her shoulder. Resting there, he could feel her regular breathing and calm, steady heartbeat. Like a mother's song, they lulled him into a dreamy limbo. He felt his tears dissipate, and he quickly fell asleep.

Rei's eyes were closed too. Otherwise, she would have witnessed a remarkable sight. Gendo had finished his conversation on the phone, and was staring at the two children nestled up against each other in the other seat. His frown had disappeared, replaced by an open-jawed expression of shock. He had removed his glasses.. as a single tear coursed its way down his cheek.

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Misato carefully observed Gendo out of the corner of her eye. When he had stormed into the command center only a few minutes earlier, he had obviously been disturbed by something. His agitation was still evident, but he seemed to have controlled it as he watched the technicians going about their work. The incursion from the hacking computers had ended only a short while earlier, and data was still streaming in from the computers that had assaulted NERV's Magi.

Maya looked up. "All the links have been severed that's the last of it," she announced. "Beginning data extraction now."

"Look at all this!" Makoto exclaimed as file after file acquired by IO appeared in the system. "Dr. Akagi's program was genius!" Harsh stares from Maya and Gendo quickly reminded him of his mistake in mentioning that name, and he sheepishly turned back to his console.

Shigeru sarcastically gave him a thumbs-up and mouthed, "Nice one," but the incident was quickly forgotten as incredible amounts of information began appearing on the screens.

"I want all this data scanned," Gendo ordered. "Particularly, I want to know who ordered this assault and by what mechanism. I need to know the chain of command. Also, have the Magi scan all documents for references to NERV, and the phrases _'Human Completion Project'_ and _'Instrumentality of Man.'_ Everything you find, you report to me and then promptly forget. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Sir!" came the response from the staff. "Major Katsuragi!" Gendo called. "Yes, Commander?" she asked. "Have Shinji removed from his entry plug. NERV is in no immediate physical danger." Misato sighed in relief she had not relished the prospect of asking the grim commander for permission to get Shinji out of the Eva. She leaned forward to speak into the communicator, but froze momentarily as Gendo addressed her again.

"And Major, you will keep better track of the pilot's whereabouts in the future. He is not to leave the compound until I say so. You, as his guardian, must do a better job of ensuring his health and safety. If you do not, you will be replaced." Misato scowled at the harsh commentary, but did not respond. Getting Shinji out of EVA-01 was worth it. "There's a price for everything," she muttered, then reached for the communicator again.

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The rough fabric of the towel chafed Shinji's skin as he brushed the last drops of water from his legs. Unaffected by the irritation, he mechanically folded the towel and placed it on the bench next to him. He then opened his locker, the door clanging sharply against the next locker over. The sound echoed through the room. As he removed the neatly-folded clothes he had placed there earlier, Shinji thought, _This room seems so empty_. He began to pull on his underwear, and continued to muse, _Really, though, it's no more empty than before..._ His mind shied away from the thought.

The nap in the limo had restored some of his strength, but he could not yet bear to face that guilt again. Shinji hurriedly pulled on the rest of his clothes his school uniform. Unbidden, another thought came to him: _What a silly thing to wear, now that there's no more school... no more students... _Again, his mind changed course. Too many doors of thought held pain. He pulled on his earphones, hoping that the sound of music would drown out the sound of his thoughts.

But as he approached the door, a memory inserted itself over the music.

_**"A song is good!" the gangly, grey-haired boy said from his perch on the partially-submerged statue. "Songs bring us joy. I think that music is the greatest accomplishment of Lilim culture," he continued. The boy turned his head towards Shinji, revealing a pale, smiling face lit by bright red eyes. "Don't you agree, Ikari Shinji-kun?"**_

Shinji felt a wrenching in his gut and put out a hand to steady himself against the doorjamb. His vision clouded as tears filled his eyes.

The pain abated, though, when he heard a familiar voice say, "Hello, Ikari-kun."

Shinji lifted his head quickly. His vision resolved and he confirmed with his eyes what his ears had told him. "Rei!" he gasped. "I didn't expect you to..."

Rei looked to the floor, and Shinji stopped. "If you do not want me to be here, I can go," she said.

Shinji stepped out further into the hallway, and replied, "N-no... I just wasn't expecting you to be here." Rei looked back up at him.

"I'm g-glad you are, though..."

"Do you wish to eat?" Rei asked. Shinji suddenly realized that he had barely consumed a scrap of food in the past three days. His fast had been unintentional Shinji knew that he had not been eating, but his grief-stricken mind had attributed no importance to the fact. Suddenly, he became aware of a host of things he simply had not been bothering to notice a dull ache in his lower back, a twisting pain in his empty stomach, and a crushing weariness that threatened to push him to the floor. _First thing's first,_ he thought, then nodded to Rei. "Yes, I... I should," he answered.

"Do you want to go to the cafeteria?" Rei bowed her head, and responded, "Wherever you wish. It does not matter to me." Shinji nodded and began moving down the hall towards the cafeteria. He was halted momentarily, however, when Rei reached out and touched his hand. "Could you..." she began, but trailed off. Shinji gulped, then took her hand in his. "S-sure," he said. Her palm was cool and dry, though his was sweating a bit.

Shinji looked up at Rei's face, and his vision was trapped by the faint, warm smile he saw there. Without my asking, he thought, gazing at the placid smile. _Even though she's a different person, I feel... she's somehow the same... _Rei squeezed Shinji's hand and asked, "Shall we go?" Shinji, realizing he had been staring, blushed slightly and began walking down the hall with her.

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The voice needed no face to display the stress and fear of its owner: the quaver in its high shout did that job admirably.

"**FIFTY PERCENT!**" it boomed, filling the SEELE committee chamber. Had the monoliths been real and not holograms, it would have echoed off them.

Another, calmer voice responded, "**SEVENTY-FIVE**."

"**SIXTY-FIVE**," countered a third.

"**NINETY**," groaned a fourth.

"**THIS PLAN HAS BEEN A FAILURE, KEEL**," the first voice shouted, nearly becoming a shriek at the end.

"**AN ESTIMATE OF SEVENTY PERCENT OF OUR MOST SECRET FILES HAVE BEEN DOWNLOADED INTO NERV DATABASES**," the third agreed.

"**IKARI WILL RELEASE ENOUGH TO ERADICATE US**," the fourth moaned.

"**HAVE YOU ANY WAY TO COUNTER THIS THREAR, LORENZ?**" asked the second.

"**YES**," Keel replied. "**I DO**."

"**OUT WITH IT THEN**," the fourth voice said, still groaning in the depths of depression.

"**PHYSICAL ASSAULT**," Keel announced.

Silence ruled the chamber for a moment before the second voice articulated what all were thinking. "**THIS IS NOT A PLAUSIBLE OPTION**," it argued, "**AFTER THE PRESS CONFERENCE THIS MORNING, IKARI HAS THE WHOLE WORLD EATING OUT OF HIS PALM. NO GOVERNMENT, AND NOT EVEN THE UN, WILL ASSIST US USING MILITARY FORCE IN THIS MATTER WITHOUT UNAMBIGUOUS EVIDENCE THAT IKARI IS A TRAITOR. IT'S POLITICALLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR THEM TO ACT OTHERWISE**."

Another voice added, "AND **EVIDENCE WAS PRECISELY WHAT TODAY'S EFFORT FAILED TO ACQUIRE**."

Keel's voice held firm. "**PHYSICAL ASSAULT IS THE ONLY OPTION REMAINING TO US. WE STILL HAVE CONTROL OVER THE NINE PRODUCTION MODELS AND THEIR DUMMY PLUGS. AND THE RECENT RECOVERY OPERATION USING THE SHROUD SATELLITES HAS RETURNED THE LANCE OF LONGINUS TO US. WITH THE LONGINUS LANCE AND NINE S2-POWERED EVA'S, DEFEATING EVA-01, THE LONE REMAINING EVANGELION, SHOULD NOT POSE ANY DIFFICULTY**."

"**YOU KNOW THAT IF THIS FAILS, SEELE WILL BE UNDONE**."

"**SEELE WILL CERTAINLY BE DESTROYED IF WE DO NOT TRY**." Keel replied.

"**THEN TRY WE MUST**," the fourth said. With a sighing sound, the monoliths disappeared.

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Kouzou shivered in the unusually chilly air of Gendo's office. _He must have turned up the air conditioning several notches_, Kouzou thought as he waited for his superior to acknowledge his presence. Kouzou rubbed his upper arm. The gesture was half meant to warm the chilled limb, and half meant to dispel the Vice-Commander's nervous energy. _He knows I'm busy and irritable_, Kouzou admitted to himself, _He just doesn't give a damn_. At long last the commander looked up from his desk. His face was once again stony and impassive, the earlier agitation having disappeared. "What is our status, Kouzou?"

"Preliminary sorting of the files recovered is complete, and all those files matching your criteria are in queue for your personal directory, pending your review. More should be on their way once they are decrypted. All secondary attacks against the Magi have ceased... SEELE seems to have retreated from the confrontation." Gendo shook his head. "They may have backed down from this battle, but the committee is not yet done with the war. NERV headquarters will be locked down, starting with the morning shift. From now until further notice, no one inside the compound leaves. After the next shift comes in at 0600 hours, no one is to enter, either. Make any necessary accommodations to ensure adequate sleeping quarters."

Kouzou nodded, "Yes, Gendo. You expect a physical attack?"

"Of course," Gendo replied, grinning coldly. "The old men have blocked themselves into a corner. They hoped to gain NERV's secrets and use them against me. But that attempt has been used against them, and now I possess their dearest secrets. I am, therefore, a great threat to them one they cannot afford to ignore. They will attack with all the force they can muster."

"What kind of force can they muster, Gendo? Surely no military in the world will face us." Gendo had an answer ready. "They will use the production series Evangelions." Kouzou's jaw dropped. "The nine... with S2 engines?" he asked. After a moment, he continued, "I had almost forgotten about them. I suppose you have something in mind to counter that threat..." Gendo smiled. "I am always prepared. EVA-01 has its own S2 power source, and a pilot who is under my control..." _I wonder if that's true_, Kouzou mused.

Gendo continued, "...and far more capable than the dummy plugs they have available. If SEELE had the Longinus Spear, then there would be some danger, but I dont believe there's any mechanism at their disposal by which they could retrieve it." There was a short pause, and then Gendo said, "Speaking of our pilot..." Kouzou had anticipated the question. "The Third Child is sleeping in the hospital. I ordered a doctor to give him a sedative... and an IV drip with nutrients, although Shinji did eat for once."

Gendo nodded. "Then there is no reason to be worried." Kouzou frowned. "You are very confident, Gendo," he said, his tone warning. "Always."

"Yet you were disturbed by the attack today." Gendo shook his head, replying, "No... not by the attack." In response to Kouzou's quizzical stare, he continued, "It was in the car on the way here... I told Rei to sit beside Shinji when the call came. She did, but... she held his hand and rested his head on her shoulder." Kouzou nodded. "She chose physical contact without orders? That is surprising." Gendo shook his head again, and removed his glasses.

"That wasn't it," he said. He rubbed his eyes as he added, "It's just that when she supported him that way, she looked... so much like Yui."

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Stay tuned next week for Part Two: "Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, for thou hast left thy first love..."

Sparky


	3. NGE: AOTF 02

**NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: ASCENT OF THE FALLEN**

**Part Two:**

**By Sparky Clarkson**

"Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, for thou hast left thy first love..." (Revelation 2:4)

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"You don't have to come here, if you don't want to," Shinji said quietly. While his drug-induced sleep of the previous night had not been as beneficial as a normal rest might have been, he still felt somewhat better. After all, even drugged sleep was better than none.

Shinji stood outside the door to Asuka's room, with his hand on the door. Rei waited patiently next to him. She seemed uncomfortable somehow, though her face was just as impassive as ever. Perhaps it was a hint of nervous movement around her normally still frame a twitch of the fingers, a shuddering of the chest, or a trembling of the legs.

"I... should," she said, uncertainly.

"Are you sure?"

Rei gathered herself, standing straighter than before, and took a deep breath. The nervous aura dissipated, and she said in a stronger voice,

"Yes. I am certain."

Shinji nodded and opened the door, revealing the same antiseptic chamber he had visited the day before. The once-vivacious pilot lay on her back in the bed, her vacant eyes trained blankly on the ceiling.

He shivered, seeing the pilot of EVA-02 laying limply, passively on the bed. Asuka's frozen form made the room somehow seem colder than the rest of the hospital.

"So still..." Rei gasped quietly. Shocked to hear the emotion in her voice, Shinji whirled his head around in time to catch a glimpse of her expression. A great wave of pain and sorrow cascaded across Rei's face momentarily, but the tumult quickly subsided, her gaze returning to its impassive norm.

Shinji awkwardly reached out and squeezed Rei's hand, and attempted to say something that would comfort her. However, he couldn't find the words he needed. Eventually he gave up and stepped into the room.

Shinji pulled a chair up next to the bed, on Asuka's left. The sheets had been pulled back a bit, and she had on a new gown a red one.

Shinji found himself comparing it unfavorably to the color of her hair.

Rei walked to the foot of the bed and stood there. Shinji pointed out a chair, but she said, "I... can't stay long. You are better for her than I am." Shinji stared at Rei oddly for a moment, but quickly turned back to Asuka. He heard Rei whispering something, but forced himself to focus on the devastated girl despite his curiosity.

Gently, he reached out and took Asuka's hand, holding it as he might grasp a bubble fearful of putting any pressure on it. He said nothing, but stared into Asuka's sightless eyes, hoping that they might be the route some sign of awareness used to escape the dark pit of her soul.

After about a minute, Shinji heard the door open and close again as Rei left. He was almost glad for the sound a kind of sign that things could change. But the noise disappeared quickly, dissipating into a thousand tiny echoes that died hopelessly in the small room. Shinji and Asuka were left alone, alone and still, much as they had been earlier.

This time, though, the quiet tableau seemed more wholesome, the calm stillness of sleep more than the frozen paralysis of death. But the children's peacefulness was only an illusion. When Shinji had taken Asuka's hand, her mind had been unsettled. Now, as he gently massaged it, gazing hopefully into her vacant eyes, total war had at last begun to consume the soul to which those bright blue eyes were the window.

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The warm, syrupy LCL surrounded Asuka's naked body, insinuating itself into every pore, every crevice, every orifice. The thick liquid clung to her thighs like the wanton caress of a rapist, and violated her mouth with its ash-like flavor. Asuka, spread-eagled, tried to cover herself in shame, but found that her arms and legs were immobile. Her neck was also frozen, forcing her to gaze in horror on the object she hated most in all the world.

A doll.

Kyoko's "Asuka" doll that she had "killed" before hanging herself floated in front of the red-haired Eva pilot. It had been a small thing in the world, a tiny rag stuffed with cotton lumps. But now it had bloated into an enormous, mountain-sized monstrosity. Its once- limp limbs were now animated, and its sewn-on smile had transformed into a face-wide, malicious grin.

This experience was familiar to Asuka. Though much of her time in the past few weeks since her synchronization ratio had dropped to zero had been a mental blank, there had been a few periods during which Asuka's mind was filled with hallucinations. This had been a frequent vision, thrust upon her several times without warning. Before, it had stayed for barely a moment. Now, however, the nightmare clung to its spot in her consciousness, bringing stillness to her mental milieu.

Stillness meant no reprieve from pain, though.

The doll began to speak, its voice a high, ear-shattering whine.

"_I'm_ more important than _you_," the doll gloated, "Mommy loves _me_ more."

Asuka recognized the sound it was a mockery of her own voice, as it sounded when she was at her most cruel. She tried to cover her ears to block out the auditory reminder of her sins, but her stony limbs would not comply.

Helplessness angered Asuka. "That's not true!" she screamed in reply to the doll's taunt. "You don't matter at all! You're nothing but a stupid doll!"

"Stupid," the doll repeated, inflecting the word so that it hit Asuka like a harpoon. "You call so many things stupid..." it teased, and began a series of grotesque transformations. Its head shifted shape so that it looked like Rei's, and the doll said, "Stupid Rei is so much like a doll. She only does what others order her to."

Asuka said nothing, though she felt vaguely sick on hearing the apparition speak this way. The doll changed again. Now it bore Shinji's face, which had a caricatured expression of fear on it.

"Stupid Shinji is a weak little boy, running away from his problems," the doll sneered. "Such a pathetic waste, isn't he?"

"No..." Asuka growled through clenched teeth. She recognized the thought as hers, but no longer wished to accept her own words. However right they may have seemed when she said them, they sounded wrong coming from this monster.

The doll didn't stop. It continued with its litany, each time changing its face to caricature the person it was talking about. "Stupid Misato is a slut... stupid Touji and Kensuke are perverts and idiots... stupid Hikari doesn't understand your problems..." The doll reverted  
to its original face. "Only little _Asuka_ matters," it mocked. "Tell me, _little girl_," it continued, "what isn't stupid? What won't you spite?"

Asuka sniffed and tried to raise her chin. "Eva isn't stupid," she replied.

"Aw," the doll pouted, "But little Asuka can't pilot the Eva anymore. She is useless. She refused to help other people with their pain, and ran away from her own. But she could not run away forever. Now she has become a doll, just like me. She does not move unless others move her, does not eat unless others feed her. She is a burden dead, useless weight."

"NO!" Asuka shouted, but in her heart, she knew the truth.

"It's better this way, though, isn't it?" the doll purred. "Before you turned into a limp little doll, all you did was hurt other people. At least you won't cause the people who care about you any more pain..."

"I didn't..." Asuka protested, but her voice was feeble, and the words held no force. Already, her mind was filling with a thousand memories.

Every slight, every insult, every slap, and every sharp word she had said came flowing back into her consciousness. Every person she knew, and some she didn't, had been the victim of her assaults, verbal and physical. All were in her memories: Shinji, Misato, Rei, Touji, Ritsuko, her father... and her mother.

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As Shinji gently massaged her hand, Asuka began to shiver. Again, a single word escaped her throat.

"Mommy..."

Without any further warning, Asuka began flailing around on the bed.

Her writhing quickly pushed her sheets to the side, and sent Shinji tumbling to the floor as a knee and an elbow caught him in the chest and face.

Shinji felt no pain, however he barely even realized that he had been knocked down. In an instant, he was back on his feet, trying to subdue Asuka so she didn't hurt herself. He groped frantically for the panic button to call the nurses while he muttered anything he could think of to calm Asuka down.

Still, Asuka's eyes were vacant.

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At last the barrage of memories ceased. The doll laughed again, the sound was a twisted version of Asuka's own voice. "What a pity," it gloated, "They all tried to care for you, and all you could give them in return was pain. How lucky they are that you can't hurt them anymore."

Asuka hung her head. _What have I done?_ she asked herself. _What kind of a monster have I been?_

"Why cling to life?" the doll asked, grinning evilly. "All you did while you were alive was hurt people. Sure, for a while your ability to pilot Eva made up for your wretched, hurtful personality, but now you don't even have that anymore. Why live? Don't you want to die? That, at least, would make all the people you wounded happier."

"Yes... die..." Asuka murmured, her head still hung low. Tears filled her eyes as she realized what pain she had caused to the only people who might be considered her friends. "They'll be happier without me," she whispered.

Then she heard very faintly, as if from a great distance, a familiar boy's voice saying, "Please wake up, Asuka... I need you..."

_He still... cares?_ Asuka wondered. Her head snapped up and she glared at the doll, the animated mockery of life that floated in front of her. _If I die, I can't make up for what I've done_, she realized.

_That damn thing was trying to make me hurt them even more_! Her nostrils flared, and she felt something rising up within her, an emotion she had not felt in a long time rage.

The anger she had shown and felt in the past was nothing compared to this emotion. It was more than the overacted frustration she expressed when the Eva wouldn't work, more than the annoyance that made her yell at Shinji. Pure, white-hot rage burned in her chest, searing her heart. The heat spread into her frozen limbs, freeing them for action, then poured into her lungs and erupted from her mouth in a furious howl. "_**You!**_" she screamed at the doll, "You lie! You lied to my mother, and convinced her to kill herself! And now, you're lying to me!"

Asuka felt that something had changed. She looked down at herself and saw that somehow, her plugsuit had appeared on her. Now, protected from the doll's button-eyed gaze and the tainted caress of the LCL,

Asuka felt even stronger. "You told me to kill myself so I wouldn't have to face the harm I caused! But you knew I would hurt everyone even more! Do you think I am an idiot!" she screamed, realizing as she did so that another protective shell was forming around her: the entry plug. Nonetheless, she continued, "You can't fool me! You're a lie! An empty illusion! That's all you ever were! And it's _all_ you ever _will be_!"

And suddenly, she felt around her the strength, the power, of EVA-02.

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Shigeru looked up from his console. "I just registered a small power surge in Unit Two. It's gone now," he said. Maya shrugged. "Keep an eye on it," she replied. "And tell me if it happens again. But it was probably nothing."

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The doll began shrinking as the massive form of EVA-02 approached it.

Asuka withdrew her progressive knife and sliced through the doll's bloated body with a single blow. As the pieces drifted apart from each other, they revealed behind them the sight of a hospital room, and a face she had not thought she would ever see again.

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Asuka stopped her flailing and lay still on the bed for a moment.

Nervous and on the verge of tears out of concern for his fellow pilot, Shinji leaned over her to check for any injuries. Just as he was scanning Asuka's face, her eyes lost their vacancy and focused on him, lighting up in recognition. She convulsively lunged forward, knocking him back into the chair.

She followed his fall, leaning forward so that her head was resting on his shoulder, her arms thrown around his neck. "Shinji," she cried, tears running down her cheeks, "I'm sorry I called you stupid... I never meant it... please don't hate me!"

Shinji, startled and confused, spluttered for a few moments as he tried to reply. "I-I-I... I... I... d-don't h-hate you, A-Asuka. I... I... n-never did. I..." but whatever he had meant to say next was drowned out by the clanging of alarms throughout NERV headquarters.

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"Peripheral defense sensors detect nine targets. The Magi classify them as Evangelion units 05 through 13," Makoto announced, gnawing his lower lip as he studied his screens. The usual combat duty group, without Ristuko, had taken their places in Central Dogma. "Magi estimate 95 chance that target intentions are hostile."

"All nine," Kouzou muttered.

"As I expected, the old men have become so desperate that they will try anything," Gendo replied, a cold smile on his face. "In their desperation, they'll succeed unless we do something,"

Kouzou noted.

"Solving that problem is Major Katsuragi's duty," Gendo said. "You will assist her in the task. I have something that I must attend to."

"What..?" Kouzou asked, shocked, but Gendo was already leaving the command center.

"You are in charge, Fuyutsuki," Gendo said as he left. When he reached the door, he turned around for a moment, and added, "You are authorized to use all available force all pilots and Evas are expendable. I'm sure your defense will be adequate." Kouzou shuddered at the sight of the cold, malicious smile Gendo was wearing. Before he could frame a reply, though, the Commander disappeared down the hallway.

Kouzou shook his head and turned back to the command center, where the staff had settled completely into their normal positions. _What a strange thing is war_, he thought, _For the soldier, even the most deadly battle becomes business but a terrible business. 'All pilots and Evas are expendable,' Gendo says. But everyone here knows that there is only one Eva, one pilot. And so the soldier makes a businesslike decision to sentence his son to death_. The aging professor shook his head once more. "Now is no time for introspection," he muttered, then shouted, "I want options! We must defend Headquarters at all costs!"

Misato turned around and shrugged. "I'm open to suggestions," she said, "We have one operational Evangelion that we have to use to face nine. Nine! And with S2 engines! And how the hell did they get a hold of that thing Rei used against the fifteenth?"

Kouzou sat down at the desk in the top level of the command center and dropped his head into his hands. He was no military genius, but he knew that against this kind of foe, NERV had only one working weapon.

_Damn you, Gendo, for making me do this_, he thought, then raised his head and stood again. "We have only one option," he announced, "Headquarters has suffered too much damage to defend against a siege."

Misato nodded glumly, and momentary silence fell across the bustling command center. The Major wiped her eyes, flicking away the small amount of moisture that had accumulated there. "Notify the pilot," she ordered, "Prepare to sortie EVA-01."

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"Shinji, I'm sorry... I hoped it was over, but..."

"Don't be, Misato," Shinji replied from inside his entry plug. The boy looked exhausted, both mentally and physically, but he managed a slight smile. "This isn't your fault."

_How can we sentence him to death like this? He doesn't stand a chance!_ Misato thought. Tears filled her eyes, and she didn't bother to wipe them away. "Shinji," she said, reaching out to touch the screen that showed her his face, "come... come back safe."

"I will, Misato... I won't fail you..."

Misato nodded, and rested her head in her hand, as if covering her eyes might end the nightmare she and all the people of NERV now faced.

She managed to choke back her sob, and croak, "Launch." _He's doing this for me..._ she thought, _When will he have a chance to do something for himself?_

As she watched the monitors showing EVA-01's rise through the network of tunnels leading to the surface, she clenched her fist. _Soon_, she promised, _I'll make sure he gets a chance for happiness. Even if it means that I have to fight these damned angels with my own bare hands._

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Gendo's quick, determined steps echoed from the shadow-draped walls ofthe cavernous basement room. He paused, and gazed into the darknessfor a moment, eventually calling, "Rei."

In response, the lights flickered on to show the girl, dressed in her school uniform and seated on the edge of the bare, uncomfortable mattress that served as her bed. Rei's blank expression did not waver as she replied, "Yes."

"It is time," Gendo said, and removed his white leather gloves. Even in the dim light of the basement chamber, anyone could have clearly seen the embryonic form of Adam, the first angel, implanted in the palm of the Commander's right hand.

Rei slowly, smoothly, stood up and answered, "Perhaps."

"All the required signs have been fulfilled," Gendo replied. The tiny form of Adam began to glow slightly. Gendo smiled coldly and continued, "See, even now he aches to greet his bride. The prophecy in the Dead Sea scrolls has come to its critical juncture our actions now will decide the fate of all who come after us."

A shadow of irritation impinged briefly on Rei's vacant expression, but vanished quickly. She shrugged and said, "If you believe so, we shall try."

"Follow me."

"I know the way..."

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The production-model Eva units had not bothered to use any complicated tactical formation--indeed, they hadn't even bothered to go airborne.

They outnumbered the sole purple giant facing them by such an absurd margin that strategy no longer mattered. The grey-white giants simply formed a single-file front as they approached EVA-01 through the ruins of Tokyo-3.

Not all the units were exactly alike, however. EVA-05, which was walking in the middle of the line a few steps behind the others, carried the Longinus Lance. SEELE's secret recovery operation had brought the powerful weapon into the hands of their pseudo-mechanized soldiers.

EVA-01 faced the oncoming squadron of Eva's impassively from the middle of the shattered city. Shinji unconsciously growled as he surveyed the opposition. He desperately tried to think of something to do against them, but his exhausted, overwrought mind kept drawing blanks.

Misato's face appeared on a video window. "Shinji, pay attention to the one with the Lance. I don't really know what it is, but I remember Rei used it to kill the fifteenth angel, so it must be pretty powerful. Keep your eye on it."

Shinji nodded, and focused on EVA-05. The unit was swinging out to the left, behind the line of production Eva's.

"Be careful, Shinji," Kouzou warned, "He's trying to flank you. That weapon, The Lance Of Longinus, is the most dangerous thing on the battlefield. You must avoid getting hit with it at all costs."

Shinji nodded, but did not respond. He kept his eyes on EVA-05, but something about its movement seemed odd. At least, odd if it truly intended to flank him while the other eight performed a frontal assault. EVA-05 had swung out behind the line of Eva's, and had come up to the left of the rest of them. However, it had not moved any further left, nor any further forward than the rest of the line.

"Range one kilometer," Makoto announced over the combat radio band, and the Evas stopped. With the exception of EVA-05, they all drew their progressive knives. Shinji tensed into a crouch, willing his Eva to grasp its own knife even more tightly.

EVA-05 pulled back its arm, getting ready to hurl the spear.

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Gendo stood at the edge of the lake of LCL, staring up at the white giant still pinned to the cross. Lilith had been regenerating since the Longinus Spear was removed from her side, but while her torso had regrown, there was no sign of a waist or legs. "Incomplete," he muttered, "I expected full healing. The Scrolls say nothing about this, though, so I suppose there's no contradiction." Turning to the girl who stood beside him, he commanded, "Rei, get ready. We will proceed."

The albino girl glared at him for a moment, then shrugged and began to strip. She carelessly tossed the school clothes she was wearing to the ground in an untidy heap. Once nude, she turned back to the Commander and said, "I am ready."

Gendo smiled, and muttered, "Excellent." He began walking into the lake of LCL, Rei only a few steps behind. Though wide, the lake was deceptively shallow only about thigh-deep on the Commander. After a few minutes of walking, he and the albino girl stood at the foot of the cross. "It will not be long now, Rei," Gendo said, "When 01 is destroyed, Yui will be free, and we will commence Third Impact together."

"How will we know?" Rei asked.

"SEELE has reacquired the Longinus Lance, or they would never attack," Gendo replied. "Contact between the Spear and Unit One's core will cause an explosion large enough to be felt even here. When the core is destroyed, Yui's soul will be freed something you will feel because you are partially made of her."

"Very well," Rei said, nodding. A moment later she asked, "Must Shinji die to allow Third Impact?"

Gendo shrugged, and replied, "There's no other way to free Yui. We must have our priorities, after all..."

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Shinji crouched, trying to anticipate when and how EVA-05 would finally throw the Longinus Lance at him. The production Eva's, silent and still, regarded him coldly with their glowing eyes. The ten units held the tableau for almost a minute.

Then, EVA-05 wheeled and threw the Longinus Lance down the line of production model Eva's. The aim was perfect it tore through the center of each Eva, destroying all eight S2 organs and cores. Shinji barely had enough time to develop a full AT field before the Evas exploded in a massive firestorm.

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Terminal Dogma shuddered, sending a massive oscillation through the lake of LCL. "At last," Gendo said, struggling to keep his balance.

"Finally we can be reunited, Yui."

Only a moment later, however, he felt a searing pain in his right hand. Something has gone wrong, he realized as he held it up in front of him. His eyes widened as he saw that Adam was peeling away from the surface of his palm. Gendo tried to push the embryonic angel back onto his skin, but every time he touched the tiny creature his fingers came afire with pain.

"Damn!" he swore as the embryo at last broke free, leaving a large, burn-like wound on his palm. Gendo clutched his hand in agony and thrust it into the LCL in an attempt to deaden the intense pain. After a few seconds, the oxygen-carrying fluid had a mild effect, and he was able to look around to see what had become of the First Angel.

The glowing, embryonic form flopped around on the small island in the middle of the LCL lake for a few seconds, then shuddered and started to grow. Four wings spread from its back, and it took on the shape it had held during the Second Impact. Still, however, it was very small.

Gendo reached for it, but missed, stumbled, and landed on his wounded hand. In agony, he again thrust his hand into the LCL.

Gendo was horrified to see Adam move to hover in front of Rei, still growing. After a moment, Adam turned towards Lilith and tried to approach her. However, as the tiny angel came close to the giant, some force seemed to push it away. Adam tried three times, but to no avail.

Seemingly resigned to the fact that it could not unite with Lilith, the angel hovered back towards Rei.

Gendo overcame the pain in his palm, leaped forward, and attempted to seize Adam, but the angel nimbly eluded his grasp and shot towards the albino girl. Gendo fell to the floor horrified as he watched it rocket towards Rei, entering her mouth.

Rei clutched at her throat for a moment, as if she was choking, but whatever had caused her to do so quickly disappeared. She stood stock-still for a moment, and then began to glow.

Pearly light radiated from her skin, and her eyes had the appearance of fire. The glow only lasted for about a minute; as Gendo was at last picking himself up, still clutching his wounded hand, the glow subsided.

Gendo stared at Rei for a moment, then asked, "What happened?"

"Adam was inside of me, but... he is gone now," Rei said. "It seems the scenario has changed."

"So it has," Gendo said, looking at his damaged palm. _Someone resisted my plan probably my damned son. Well, next time I'll be more careful. I __**will not**__ be defeated!_ he raged mentally. He dug his fingers into his palm, wincing at the pain. _Yui_, he thought, _I __**will**__ have you back. God himself cannot stop me!_

Gendo fumed as he stormed across the LCL lake, so caught up in his anger that he did not see what Rei was doing. She stood at Lilith's foot, staring at the retreating form of the Commander. And as she watched him, her gaze grew progressively darker, concentrating for one moment into an expression of rage. As Gendo left the LCL, though, Rei's face became blank. She mechanically followed the Commander out of Terminal Dogma.

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The explosive force of the firestorm eradicated most of what remained of Tokyo-3. The foundations of destroyed buildings were filled up by flying dirt and debris, and the few remaining walls were shattered into millions of pieces of rubble that were further broken down by the intense heat and strong wind as they blew through the air. A large part of the new lake was vaporized, and the last traces of the northern portion of Tokyo-3 disappeared.

Through the haze of fire and destruction, Shinji saw that EVA-05 was still standing. As the explosion receded, leaving a thousand small blazes burning in its wake, he noticed that the white Eva had managed to erect an AT field around itself.

"Are you OK, Shinji?" Misato asked over the vidlink.

"I'm fine..." he replied, as he willed his EVA-01 to walk towards the remaining production-model Eva. He was still over half a kilometer away when he saw the large biomechanical robot wave at him. Thrown off by the odd gesture, Shinji stopped his advance. EVA-05 then slumped as its neck plate opened and the entry plug ejected.

Shinji immediately moved forward to recover the plug, but stopped when Misato said, "We saw the entry plug ejection, Shinji. You don't need to worry about recovery. With the northern section totally leveled, we shouldn't have too much trouble getting to it... I want you to return to headquarters."

Shinji stopped for a moment. He wanted to see who had been piloting the rebellious Eva, but being in EVA-01 had always been tiring. The effect was only enhanced by the mental effort he exerted to keep from thinking about what he had done in the biomechanical robot only three days ago. Still, the prospect of meeting the pilot drew him...

His problem was solved quickly when Misato slyly added, "Besides, I hear there's someone down in the infirmary who's very interested in seeing you again right away."

Shinji's only consolation was that Asuka wasn't seeing his bright red blush of embarrassment.

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Rei sat naked on the edge of her bed in the basement of NERV headquarters, gazing intently into the surrounding darkness. Her outward calm, however, disguised a rapid heartbeat and irregular breathing. Her hair, damp though the room was cool, hung limply on her forehead.

_**Darkness surrounded her. Suddenly, a flash of light appeared directly in front of her and a glowing ocean of particles began moving away from the center of her visual field.**_

_I have never seen this..._ she thought, as the strange memory replayed itself over and over in her head. _Darkness... and then light... I do not understand the meaning..._ She shook her head, and the repetitious vision cleared from her mind. _I do not want to stay here alone right now_, she thought, and began to dress.

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Shinji cringed back in his chair briefly, then stared at the floor.

Asuka shook her head and dropped her spoon back into the bowl, reaching out to grab his chin. She tilted Shinji's face up so that he was looking at her again. "Don't pout, stupid," she said. "I didn't really mean that. I just... I've been a big burden on everyone for a while, and it's important to me that I do things for myself right now even if they're really simple."

"So y-you're not mad at me?" Shinji asked quietly. He looked as if he were fighting to keep from running out of the room.

"Of course not, silly. I... I just overreacted," Asuka replied. Seeing Shinji relax a little, Asuka continued, "In fact, I really appreciate your offering to help, but... right now, I've got to be the one who takes care of me even with something as basic as eating."

The traces of Asuka's attempts to do just that were now gracing her red gown. Because she had gone nearly a week without moving, her muscles had atrophied considerably and controlling them was a bit difficult. After she had spilled several spoonfuls of the thick stew on herself, Shinji had offered to help. Her loud negative response had nearly driven him from the room.

"Oh..." Shinji said. "Okay." He relaxed further in the chair.

Asuka released his chin and grabbed the spoon again. With some effort, she managed to get most of the stew she picked up with it into her mouth. She continued with her extremely messy eating, somehow getting about half of the bowl into her mouth. At last, she pushed the small rolling table that had the bowl on it away, and said, "Oh, that felt good. But I want to have your cooking again. This hospital food is so... bland."

Shinji made an embarrassed smile and blushed. He was not used to getting so much attention from the fiery pilot of EVA-02. Forgetting himself, he grabbed a napkin and wiped a bit of food off Asuka's cheek. He realized the error almost instantly when she narrowed her eyes, but she didn't yell at him. Instead she smiled and said, "Thanks," making Shinji even more confused.

Asuka stared at the boy briefly, observing his unusually gaunt condition. After a moment, she asked, "Shinji, have you been eating any of your cooking?"

Shinji looked down again, and replied, "I... no. I haven't felt much like eating recently."

"Because of me?"

"You, and... some other things..." Shinji said, seeming to shrink somewhat in his chair.

Asuka reached towards Shinji again, but stopped halfway through the motion. The boy looked almost like he was about to cry. Asuka's expression softened. She gently rested her hand on Shinji's shoulder and squeezed. Quietly, she said, "Shinji, I... I know I haven't been the best roommate or friend in the past. But I'd like to change that.

So if you need to talk about... whatever is hurting you... I... I'm willing to listen."

Shinji looked up, his eyes brimming with tears, but he was wearing a small, sad smile. "I... I don't think I'm ready yet," he replied, his voice nearly cracking, "But... thank you very much for offering."

Asuka smiled back, then was taken with a powerful yawn. Embarrassed, she explained, "I know it sounds weird, but I'm really sleepy. All that time I spent comatose didn't do much good for me. I think I'll go to bed soon." Shinji nodded, and leaned back in his chair, wiping the moisture out of his eyes.

A few moments went by, and then Shinji realized that Asuka was giving him an irritated stare. He returned a questioning gaze, and she replied, "Well, I can't sleep in this gravy-covered thing, Dummkopf! And I'm not going to change in front of you!" Shinji reddened, and almost fell over as he stood up too fast.

Shinji quickly retreated from the room, chased by Asuka's snort and call of "Pervert!" But he had seen as he left that the customary epithet had been accompanied by a smile.

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"Then you feel the danger is past?" Kouzou asked. Gendo's office had grown even colder, causing Kouzou's joints to ache. _Next time, I'll just confer with him on a secure phone_, Kouzou thought as he fought to keep himself from shivering.

"Temporarily. My efforts down in Terminal Dogma to prevent Third Impact, combined with the rebellion of EVA-05, set SEELE back immensely. They will spend a great deal of time trying to figure out what exactly went wrong. By the time they understand what happened, I will be in a position to crush them if I so choose."

Kouzou nodded and moved to the next item on his mental agenda. "Major Katsuragi has formally requested that I release Shinji back into her care," Kouzou informed the younger man. "She feels that he should not have to spend any more time in the complex than necessary."

Gendo nodded, but said, "The boy may leave headquarters if he wishes.

Do not, however, remand him to Major Katsuragi's custody. Let him go wherever he wants."

"I will have him watched, of course," Kouzou said. "There is the danger from the EVA-05 pilot."

"There's still no progress on finding him?" Gendo asked, his tone dark.

"None. Despite the lack of cover around the plug's landing site, the recovery teams could find no trace of him," Kouzou said, shaking his head. "Our investigative team has discovered unmistakable signs that the dummy plug was a clone and not software. The LCL was saved in case an absorption event occurred, but the circumstantial evidence does not really agree with such an explanation."

Gendo frowned. "I am not pleased with this outcome. I will expect Lieutenant Ibuki's analysis of the LCL tomorrow morning, so that this matter can be cleared up.

"Still, there is no reason to be worried. Have the First Child watched, but do not interfere if SEELE's pilot tries to contact him. The health and safety of the boy may no longer be such a high priority."

Kouzou stiffened at the implication, but coldly replied, "Yes, commander."

Gendo raised an eyebrow, but did not comment on Fuyutsuki's obvious reticence. Instead he said, "The Spear."

"Our crews have retrieved Longinus Lance. Do you want it replaced in Lilith's side?"

"No. For now, just place it in storage."

Kouzou frowned again, but nodded. "As you wish."

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"He just needs a little time, I'm sure," Makoto said. He and Misato were both seated on the couch in her apartment, though neither one was holding a beer, for once. Misato was clearly agitated, and drummed her fingers furiously on the cushions.

"But after Asuka woke up and those Evangelions were destroyed, I just thought he'd be able to..." she said, trailing off.

Makoto smiled and said, "Hey, it's not your fault. All that business with Kaoru had to have hurt him severely. Asuka may be back, but he's still got a lot to work out."

Misato pulled a stray hair out from in front of her face. "You're certainly being very perceptive today."

Makoto grinned. "I'm a man of many skills," he said. "I know that," Misato said, reveling in the furious blush the statement elicited from the technician. "I'm just worried... if Shinji somehow found out what was piloting those Evas, he might... he might lose it."

Makoto's grin grew even wider as he said, "I thought of that, too. To make sure it didn't happen, I decided to use the computer skills that enabled me to uncover some secrets for you to put the lid back on one. NERV should thank me for making an ironclad firewall around at least one file. Only you, Fuyutsuki, or the Commander can access that report now."

Misato impulsively hugged the technician. "Thank you," she said. Not expecting this reaction, Makoto could barely decide whether to feel absolute joy or utter terror.

The embrace was cut short by a quiet knock at the door. Misato and Makoto both stood up quickly. Misato was running for the door immediately, with Makoto following more at a more leisurely pace. But while the person at the door was a surprise, Misato was still disappointed. "Rei?" she asked.

The girl stood outside the door with her head bowed, dressed in her school clothes. Rei raised her face to look at Misato and asked, "Is Shinji here?"

Misato was somewhat taken aback by the question, but replied, "No, Rei. I'm sorry, I have no idea where he is. Do you want to come in for a minute? Makoto and I were about to have dinner. It's instant, but..."

Rei paused for a moment as if considering the offer, then graced Misato with a slight smile. "If it is no trouble..." she replied as the Major gaped.

"Oh... oh no, it's no trouble at all," Misato said, moving out of the doorway. The young pilot entered, nodding to Misato and Makoto as she did. Misato ran off to the kitchen to get some more of the ready-made noodles cooking. Makoto smiled nervously at Rei as she removed her shoes. He had never had any real idea how to deal with the strange girl.

_She's just too quiet_, he thought, _It's not normal for a girl these days to be like that_. He was instantly disproved, however, as Rei giggled softly. Makoto's eyebrows went up and his jaw went down he'd never heard her do that before. "Wha..." he squeaked.

Rei giggled again. "You're preening like a bantam rooster for Misato," she said quietly. Makoto's jaw hung open awkwardly. He'd never heard a sentence that inventive out of her... ever. Makoto was still staring at Rei in shock when Misato brought the food in.

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Twilight had passed, and the room was dark. Shinji still didn't feel that he could go back to Misato's home. Something kept calling him back here... ...back to Kaoru's room.

The floor was uncomfortable underneath him, but Shinji barely noticed.

The SDAT was drowning out all the noises that the world might make, and his tightly shut eyes blocked out all sights. Sleep had just managed to draw him into its fold, and the dream was beginning again.

Shinji's face had no expression, but in his mind he was smiling. His memory was again playing back for him the sight of Kaoru humming the "Ode to Joy." And so Shinji did not hear the door open. And he did not hear the pad of feet through the apartment. Locked in the throes of his dream, he did not hear any of these things, nor could he have seen them even with open eyes, because night had brought such total darkness to the apartment.

The person who had entered stood in the door of the room, carefully and quietly removing his plugsuit. The synchronization-boosting clothing was left by the door as the newcomer made his way to a dresser, removing nightclothes from it and pulling them on.

Shinji groaned quietly. The dream was taking its usual dark turn. He relived his tortured descent through NERV headquarters, his heart and mind torn by his friend's betrayal. The newcomer turned, alerted by the sound to the distress of the boy sleeping on the floor.

The newcomer frowned and sighed. He walked over to the boy, and whispered, "Not tonight, Shinji-kun." He knelt by the pilot of EVA-01, gently slipping one arm under Shinji's neck and the other under his knees. With just a slight grunt of exertion, he lifted Shinji and put him on the bed. Shinji's face immediately eased, and the tension in his muscles evaporated further as the newcomer slipped into the bed beside him.

"Sweet dreams, Shinji-kun," Kaoru sighed as he put one arm around his friend. And lost in sleep, Shinji also sighed contentedly. For his dream was playing back the memory of a smiling Kaoru saying, "I love you."

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Next week, look for Part Three: "Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!"

Sparky


	4. NGE: AOTF 03

**NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: ASCENT OF THE FALLEN**

**Part Three:**

**By Sparky Clarkson**

"Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" (Psalms 133:1)

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Gendo carefully closed the heavy tome, letting the aging parchment leaves slowly nestle together before he pushed the book to the side of his desk with a pensive grunt. Tired from straining to read the cramped handwriting, he leaned back and removed his amber-tinted glasses. He rubbed his eyes for a moment, wincing as the new burn on his right hand rubbed up painfully against the abrasive gauze that wrapped it. He then leaned forward again and briefly massaged his temples, muttering, This is the one it has to be.

After relaxing this way for a moment, Gendo straightened his back and placed the amber shields in front of his eyes again. SEELEs algorithm should take care of this, he whispered, allowing the corners of his mouth to turn slightly upwards in a mirthless smile. He touched a switch, and a panel on the top of his desk slid away, allowing a computer to emerge. He started to type, his fingers flowing rapidly over the keys except when a large moment caused another stab of pain from his right hand. He called up a copy of the book in its original Latin, then activated the stolen translation program.

On the screen, the Latin words began to change. Single words, phrases, or occasionally entire paragraphs of the ancient text would change color, then transform into another word or phrase in Latin. Within moments, those words too would disappear, then reappear as their Japanese equivalents. A small bar at the bottom of the screen recorded the programs rapid progress through the book. With the power of the Magi driving the translation, the task would be complete in minutes.

Gendos smile broadened, but grew no warmer. He leaned back in his chair again, calmly grabbing a glass of ice water that sat on the edge of his desk. He sipped the frigid beverage slowly as he watched the Magi uncover the message hidden in the old bible and translate it into Japanese. As he drank, the status bar filled rapidly. Within moments, the huge passage had been reduced to a few short paragraphs of Japanese. Gendo scanned the output carefully, examining each word for its nuances and implications.

Gendo nodded calmly as he finished his work and closed the file. Excellent, he murmured, I can still achieve my goal. I need only one sign to confirm the new scenario. He placed the empty glass on his desk and leaned forward, resting his chin on his hands. _And this time_, he added mentally, _nothing will stand in my way... _

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Sleep clung jealously to Shinji after its long absence, its soft embrace holding him in the space between dreaming and waking for several minutes. As he lay in the soft bed with his eyes closed, it almost seemed to Shinji that he was still living his last dream. His sleeping mind had imagined a pleasant day on the mountain with Kaoru, an afternoon marked by a picnic on the soft grass, with gentle breezes ruffling the leaves on the trees. Shinji could still almost feel the soft wind brushing against his face, and Kaorus arm draped around his shoulders.

At last, though, the ghost of sleep finally departed and Shinjis eyes slowly opened. They widened quickly when he realized that he was not alone in his bed. Hed seen the face that shared his pillow only briefly before, but Shinji felt like he knew every bit of it intimately, from the unruly mop of grey hair to the sharp chin. The other boys milky, nearly translucent skin glowed golden in the rays of morning sun that shone through the window, but the gentle light had not yet awakened him. His arms, wrapped around Shinjis shoulders, had pulled the brown-haired boy close enough that the grey-haired ones soft breath brushed lightly against Shinjis cheek. The other boys eyes were closed, but Shinji did not need to see red irises to recognize his friend.

Shinji's own eyes clouded with tears as he gazed over the person in front of him. _Could I still be dreaming?_ he asked himself. He dared not hope that the sight confronting him was real, and he feared to move or make any sound, lest the apparition evaporate. Finally, though, he could not hold back any longer and softly whispered, "Kaoru-kun!"

The eyes in front of him fluttered open. The red tint that had once dominated them was now almost gone, replaced by a light mahogany color. The pale boy smiled gently and tenderly said, "Good morning, Shinji-kun."

"Are... are you... real?" Shinji asked, his body trembling. "I am as real as you are," Kaoru replied, squeezing Shinji's shoulder for emphasis. Shinji didn't stop trembling. "B-but... how?" he asked, "I... I... killed you. How... why..." Kaoru placed a finger over the shaking boy's lips. "I told you," he explained, "I am able to die... to be or not to be. You helped me discard my angelic body. Rather than return to heaven and live there without you, I chose to fall and become mortal. I chose to become human and be with you, Shinji-kun."

"But I... with my... E... Eva..." Kaoru shook his head, and replied, "You had to do it. I asked you to do it. How could it change the way I feel about you? I told you I love you, Shinji. Nothing is going to change that." Shinji felt wrung-out, all the strength evaporating from his body as relief, uncertainty, and happiness coursed through him. The tears had never cleared from his eyes, and now he could not hold them back any longer. "Kaoru," he sobbed, "I thought... I thought I had... that I would never..."

Kaoru pulled Shinji close and held him tightly while the younger boy cried. "Shhh," Kaoru whispered comfortingly, "There is no reason to cry. We can be together now." After a few moments, Shinji managed to pull himself together again. He hugged Kaoru gently and leaned his head against the grey-haired boy's chest. The rhythmic beat of the fallen angel's heart calmed Shinji, and also provided a comforting reassurance that his dearest friend was really there. The boys exchanged no words for several minutes while Shinji listened and let the situation sink in completely.

"You're really back," Shinji finally sighed. "I was so afraid, Kaoru. I thought I would be alone forever. I... I almost wanted to die, so at least the pain would end," he said. "You'll never be alone, Shinji," Kaoru said, gently running his hand through his friend's hair. Shinji snuggled up against the grey-haired boy as much as he could. "Thank you," he breathed, "Thank you for coming back to me..."

"No, Shinji," Kaoru said, lifting Shinji's chin so he could see into the boy's eyes. "Thank _you_ for giving me someone to come back to." After a few more minutes, Kaoru released his friend and rolled out of the bed. "You should get up," he said, "We have a lot to do today."

"Really?" Shinji asked, sitting up slowly. "Like what?" Kaoru frowned. "Well, I hate to say this, but... first, we have to have a talk with your father."

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Shinji did not remember his father's office being so chilly the last time he had gone there. _Then again_, he thought, _The cold room suits a cold man_. He shivered as he observed his father's heartless smile an evil grin that reminded Shinji of his first, horrible day in Tokyo-3. He shifted his focus to Vice-Commander Fuyutsuki, who stood behind the elder Ikari's desk. The old man frowned at the two boys, but at least there was a refuge in the honesty of his expression.

"You will explain yourself, Tabris," Gendo said, his voice dark and menacing. Kaoru flinched at the sound of his true name, but replied without evident irritation. "As I told Shinji earlier, after he defeated me I chose to fall to earth," he said. "Your defeat did not entail your destruction?"

"Do you think God allows his most devoted servants to come to Earth and truly face death? An angel's core is not the seat of his soul it is merely his anchor to the world. Without a core, an angel cannot come to Earth. But he may always go to heaven," Kaoru replied. Now he did seem annoyed, if only by Gendo's intellectual arrogance. "So why are you still here?" Kouzou asked, narrowing his eyes.

"I am no longer an angel," Kaoru replied. "I gave up the corporeal immortality granted to the Shito in favor of the spiritual immortality granted humans. I am one of you now." Gendo nodded. "I see. And your soul reappeared in one of SEELE's dummy plugs."

"They took a chance by basing their dummies on an angel," Kaoru responded, grinning smugly. Gendo did not allow his self-satisfied smile to slacken. "Yet you have done more than merely thwart SEELE's plans. The..." he glanced briefly at Shinji, then continued, "...original scenario indicated that their attack would succeed. Indeed, I had every expectation that it would. Have you undone the prophecies?"

Shinji shuddered. While learning that his father had sent him into battle expecting him to die did not surprise him, the unpleasant revelation nonetheless made him feel slightly nauseous Kaoru's response was more guarded--a mere narrowing of the eyes conveyed his displeasure at Gendo's behavior. He explained, "Free will gives us the power to alter God's plans. Lilith, Adam, and Eve forced such a change in the earliest days, when they destroyed Eden with their selfishness. And now that I, who was the angel of Free Will, have chosen to fall to earth rather than return to Heaven, another modification is needed. The scrolls you cherished are no longer accurate."

Gendo nodded slightly, and replied, "I expected as much. But the possibility of the Third remains." Kaoru raised an eyebrow, but said, "Our father commands that it shall be so. But the timing and meaning will be different... will be better."

"Better?" Kouzou asked, his eyes narrow and suspicious. "Of course," Kaoru responded with a smug grin. "As the... former... angel of free will, I know that while we are always free to choose what we do, we cannot help but act for the greater glory of God."

"And does your falling mean that you are under the rule of..." Gendo began. "No," Kaoru responded. "Not all who fall walk with the Adversary. Indeed, some of the greatest among us have chosen to fall to earth, surrendering corpum eternum for spiritum eternum. An angel's heart is not turned to darkness by touching the earth. By the grace of the Father, I walk in light and may die as a mortal dies."

"Excellent," Gendo said. He touched a button and a panel on his desk slid away to reveal a computer console. He typed in a rapid command and continued, "In a few moments, all the world's major news organizations will receive a slightly modified version of SEELE's files. Within hours, the world will know of the Committee's treachery during Second Impact and against NERV. I expect that it will not be long before the Committee is shattered and its members destroyed. None of them will escape this purge... and I will be left in charge of all operations relating to Instrumentality."

Kaoru's eyes flashed in anger, but he restrained himself. "That may not be wise," he said. "You will not catch Keel, and without the SEELE council restraining him, he may be more dangerous than ever."

"A man with no power is not dangerous. He will be reduced to nothing." A long pause ensued as Kaoru and Gendo attempted to stare each other down. After watching several fruitless minutes of contest, Kouzou cleared his throat and asked, "What will we do with this boy, then?" Gendo smiled. "Well, we now have a fourth Eva unit, and Rei will not be using it, because EVA-00 is being reconstructed even as we speak. So we need a new pilot. And here, by good fortune, we have one."

Shinji, frightened for his friend's safety, almost stepped forward and asked his father to reconsider, but Kouzou beat him to the punch. The old man scowled and loudly asked, "You mean that after we had an incident where this very boy nearly brought an end to everything, we are meant to trust him in an Eva?" Shinji almost yelped with surprise as the Vice-Commander all but shouted at his father. _Fuyutsuki-san must be a man without fear_, he thought.

Fuyutsuki continued, "Why do we dare the risk? We do not even know if there will be any more angels!"

"There will be," Gendo said. Kaoru nodded unhappily as he continued. "We shall encounter seven more visitors. Five to plague us, one to serve us, and one to shield us."

"More angels?" Shinji asked quietly. Kaoru reached out and squeezed Shinji's shoulder. "The greatest among us," he said sadly. "The seven Archangels: Jophiel, Raziel, Gabriel, Azrael, Uriel, Rafael, and Michael."

"True," Gendo said, training his gaze in turn on Kaoru and Kouzou. "Pilot Nagisa, you will return to the normal training regimen. I will expect you to have reached combat readiness by the end of next week. You may choose to place yourself under the care of Major Katsuragi, or to take care of yourself as you did before. Fuyutsuki, you will see to it that EVA-05 is repaired and operational within the next three days, as Lt. Ibuki has been ordered to concentrate solely on the reconstruction of Unit-00." Kaoru and Kouzou both bowed in cquiescence to the command. Gendo then said, "You are dismissed." Shinji grabbed Kaoru's shoulder, and the boys left as quickly as they could, leaving behind a coldly smiling Gendo, and a still-frowning Kouzou.

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"This matter is not open to discussion, Major Katsuragi!" Kouzou shouted. "I simply refuse to trust that... that... _thing_ with an Eva. I will resign if that's what it takes," Misato replied, her arms folded. "It betrayed us once before, and we all nearly died. We can't take the risk of trusting it again."

"Commander Ikari has ordered it!" Kouzou replied. "Look," he added, not in the mood to argue any more over the matter, "I'm not fond of the idea either. I want you to start Nagisa out running tests in the simulators only, and then move on to testing with the EVA in cryostasis. Don't let the boy know when he's being given what kind of test. If it's his intention to betray us, hopefully he'll try too early and show his hand." Misato snorted, clearly not convinced.

"Alternately..." Kouzou threatened, "I can accept your offer of resignation and put someone else in charge of the children. Commander Ikari has several candidates in mind... candidates _much_ less troublesome and independently-minded than yourself." Misato bristled at Kouzous words, but wisely reigned in her temper. "Very well, damn it," she said after a moment, "But I want it absolutely clear that I do this under protest, and against my better judgment. Nothing good can come of trusting an angel."

"I will make a note of it," Kouzou grumbled as he dismissed her. After she left his office, Kouzou quietly asked, "What game are you playing, Gendo? And what does this boy Nagisa have to do with it?" After a moment of staring into space, the Vice-Commander opened a drawer in his desk and removed an old, battered manila file folder. Carefully, almost lovingly, he peeled away the loose adhesive strip that held it closed and pulled out a sheaf of papers and photographs.

_**The file folder fell open as it hit the desk, revealing a photo of Keel Lorenz standing behind the US president during the inauguration speech.**_

_**Even on that day, Kouzou recalled, he was not fazed by my actions.**_

_**"I will publish the truth about Second Impact, you, SEELE and the Dead Sea Scrolls."**_

_Well, the world knows about SEELE now. Or it will soon_, Kouzou mused, carefully flipping through the pages and pages of evidence he had collected those many years ago. _It's hard to believe that I once had the energy to do so much digging, and discover the world's best-hidden secrets_, he thought, then chuckled. _Harder still_, he added, _To believe that now __**I**__ am one of the world's best-hidden secrets._

His eyes wandered from the old file to the new sheet of paper on his desk, the official order for Nagisa Kaoru to join the NERV force of Eva pilots. "Yet," he whispered, "I am still confronted with mysteries." He gently closed and resealed the battered folder, then returned it to its place in his desk. He leaned back in his chair and tapped his forefinger against his jaw. Perhaps, he thought, _I am not too old to carry out one last investigation_. He reached out and picked up the order, holding it up against the light as if he expected to see some hidden message watermarked in the paper. _Yes_, he thought, _I cannot let things stand. One more, and then I can rest. I cannot forgive... _

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Asuka needed no more than the tentative knock on her hospital room door to know who stood outside. She sat up slowly in her bed, using the control pad to change its angle of elevation, and straightened her gown a bit. "Come in," she called when she felt ready. As the door opened, she thought, _It must feel strange for Shinji to visit someone in the hospital. He's usually the one on life support_.

Asuka's eyes widened slightly in surprise when she saw that Shinji had brought someone with him. The newcomer reminded her of Rei, and with good reason. His pale skin, brown-red eyes, and nearly colorless hair made the comparison natural. However, there was something about him that was definitely not like Rei a fluidity of motion and warmth of expression that were opposite to the nearly mechanical pilot of EVA-00.

"Who's this?" Asuka asked as she continued to scrutinize the new boy. He seemed to have Shinji's predilection for wearing the school uniform at all times, and also a similarly thin build. His features were a bit sharper than Shinji's, however, and his hair was a total mess. Shinji blushed slightly. "This is Nagisa Kaoru, Asuka," he said, explaining, "He's a new pilot." _A new pilot? But Misato told me last night that we'd beaten the final angel_, Asuka mused. Then another thought struck her. Her eyes narrowed and she asked the new boy, "You aren't here as my replacement, are you?"

The new boy smiled. "Originally, I was intended to replace you while you were... incapacitated. Yesterday's fortuitous events have provided us with an Eva that I can use personally, instead of using yours, so I can stay on," he explained. "You used my Eva?" Asuka nearly shouted. "I can't believe this!"

"That... did not work out too well, actually," Kaoru said with a rueful grin. "I probably would not be here anymore if we had not gotten EVA-05." Satisfied, Asuka relaxed a bit against her bed. "Well, that's better," she said, "Unit Two is mine, and I'm not going to let anyone else lay a hand on it." A moment later, she added, "No offense."

"None has been taken. I understand that there must be a strong relationship between a great fighter and her chosen weapon." Asuka smiled at the compliment. It made her feel good, but it didn't give her quite the same rush it might have a month or so ago. "Actually," she said, "I don't know that I really want to use that particular weapon again. What happened with the fifteenth angel gave me an appreciation for Shinji's viewpoint. I kind of want this to end. In fact, I thought Misato told me it was over."

Shinji shrank a little, "Father... the Commander said that there would be seven more." Asuka noticed then that Shinji had been more relaxed than usual earlier in the conversation. He looked a bit healthier too, even though he still didn't seem to have any meat on his bones. Only the contrast brought out when he mentioned his father had made her notice  
the difference in him. _I guess I was just caught up in studying the new guy_, Asuka thought. She realized that she had been staring at Shinji for several moments.

To cover it, she slowly said, "Seven? Well, I guess I'll have to get in top shape as soon as possible."

"Why?" Shinji asked. "Well, I can't let you face them all by yourself!" Asuka replied, letting her usual follow-ups hang in the air unsaid. _That's true_, she thought as she watched Shinji blush in slight embarrassment, _I don't want you facing them by yourself. But not for the reasons you probably think_. Asuka glanced at Kaoru briefly, and saw the boy fixing her with a knowing smile. After a moment, Asuka asked, "So, you two are already friends?"

"Yeah," Shinji said in reply, smiling slightly. "Well I guess I'll just have to catch up when I get out of here," Asuka said. "Whenever that is."

"Lt. Ibuki said that you could start doing simulations next week, after physical rehab is done."

"Physical rehab?"

"Oh, that's right. You haven't been in here very often, so you wouldn't know," Shinji said. "When you've been in bed for a while, they put you through physical rehabilitation before you can leave."

"Oh well that's just _great,_" Asuka fumed. Her next words were preempted by the arrival of a large, burly nurse wearing too much lipstick. "You boys have to go," the muscular nurse ordered as she started to move furniture out of the way, "Miss Soryu has to have some physical therapy now." Shinji frowned, but obviously didn't want to make a fuss over it. "Don't worry," Asuka reassured him, "I'll be out of here and my old beautiful self in just a couple of days."

"Okay," Shinji said, and smiled at her as he left with Kaoru. _He is better than he was the other day,_ Asuka realized. _I wonder if it has something to do with that new boy. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to find out._

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"Well... it's time," Shinji said as he stood in front of his apartment building. He hefted his bag and started to walk forward, but paused as Kaoru's hand brushed his shoulder. As Shinji turned, Kaoru said, "I am glad that you are ready to do this, and I would not want you to do otherwise, but... if you ever need to get away for a while, my door will be open for you."

"Thanks," Shinji murmured. He leaned into Kaoru as the grey-haired boy gave him a brief hug. "I'll see you tomorrow, then?"

"Yes," Kaoru replied, smiling, "Sleep well." Kaoru walked off down the street as Shinji entered the building. He hit the button for the elevator and leaned against the wall. _I wonder... should I be going back?_ he thought. _I don't think Misato understands me at all. Maybe I should live on my own, or with Kaoru._ Realizing that the elevator was unlikely to arrive anytime soon, he walked over to the staircase. _I don't even know how things stand between us, after the things that happened with Kaji... and Kaoru,_ he mused as he ascended.

Shinji didn't bother to knock on the door. Instead, he just opened it quietly, removed his shoes, and walked into the living room. Misato sat listlessly on the couch, slowly flipping through the channels. The sound from the TV had obscured the noise Shinji made when he entered. He paused for a moment to observe his guardian. Misato had taken off her jacket and thrown it over the arm of the couch. Her untucked blouse and disorganized hair indicated she had been relaxing for a while. Her face, however, was tense, and her red-rimmed eyes seemed to glisten with newborn tears.

_Does she... does she really miss me?_ Shinji wondered. _Could she... could she still care about me?_ His grip on his bag loosened, and it fell to the ground. Misato jumped off the couch and spun around. Seeing who had made the noise, she ran across the room, but stopped a few centimeters away from Shinji. He gazed at her, his vision focusing on her face. Shinji felt his heart twist a bit at her expression a tearful mixture of worry, fear, uncertainty, and hope. "Shinji?" she asked quietly, her voice wavering.

"I... I'm home, Misato," he replied. Misato stepped forward and cupped the boy's cheek, the smile on her face threatening to explode into a deluge of tears. She gently enfolded Shinji in her arms, holding him as close to her chest as she could. As he hugged her back, Misato whispered, "Welcome home, Shinji... welcome home."

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The faceless voices had departed from the darkness of their meeting place. The men of SEELE had been destroyed, and their monolithic avatars would speak no more. Yet even now, the dark room in which they had holographically conferred had not become completely desolate. A single man stood in the center of the blackness, holding a small globe of the earth.

"So, Tabris," he muttered, "Even in defeat you defy me." Louder, he continued, "A pity that you did. I would have elevated you, made you a captain among my minions for your efforts! You could have chosen greatness... but in the end, your free will is for nothing. You still bend your neck to Him!" The man's hand convulsively contracted, crushing the globe into a fine powder. After a moment, he calmed down. "No matter," he said, staring detachedly at the dust coating his hand. "I will not be outdone so easily. Ikari's attempt to destroy me has only freed me of some troublesome obligations. Now, I need only wait. Gendo will play into my hands..." Keel Lorenz chuckled, and a grain of dust turned into a fly. "I only need to wait," he repeated, as more and more of the dust transformed into insects, "and grow stronger..."

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"You're doing even better today, Asuka," Misato commented. "Your synchronization ratio is back up to 40 ."

"Still not good enough..." Asuka muttered, frowning inside her entry plug. "Hey, don't rush it," Maya said. "Remember that the Evas can't be forced. You've only been back in training for a week."

"And I want to be back to normal!" Asuka shouted. "Calm down, Asuka. It's not like an angel's attacking right this instant," Misato said. "Let's call it a day." Asuka snorted, but didn't say anything otherwise as Maya ended the simulation. The physical therapy had lasted a week and a half, making her antsy even before she got back into her Eva. Now that she was doing synch tests and simulations again, she wanted to be back up to full speed as soon as possible. _I guess Lt. Ibuki's right, though_, Asuka thought as she clambered out of the entry plug, _Thinking of Eva as my plaything only got me into trouble. Better to take my time and make sure I get it right_.

She grinned at that thought, the same one she'd had every day at the end of simulations. Nonetheless, she'd had to fight her impulse to throw daily fits. Good idea or no, the slow ascent of her synch scores made Asuka impatient with the 'gentle approach' that Maya and Misato espoused. _At least I haven't lost my cool and accidentally taken it out on Shinji,_ Asuka mused as she walked back to her locker room. Yelling at him had been such an established pattern before her coma that her personal resolution not to be as harsh with him was even harder to stick to than her orders to go easy with EVA-02.

Asuka quickly stripped out of her plugsuit and walked into the shower, allowing the gentle pressure of the warm water to massage and soothe her muscles, stiff and sore from holding a single position in the plug for hours on end. _It doesn't help that there's hardly anyone around here to talk with_, she thought as she lathered up her hair. _Shinji tries to listen, and Misato does her best, but there are things I need to talk about that I just can't discuss with them._

_Wondergirl's a little better than she was before_, she added mentally as she rinsed away the shampoo and residual LCL, _but she only really talks to Shinji. And I can't figure out Kaoru at all. It's like he's not even human or something. He's not like Rei was he knows most of the things that humans know, and he mostly acts like a human, but... the way he thinks is so weird. Maybe it's something to do with being an albino. Anyway, I can't wait until more people come back._

The UN and the Japanese government had decided to rebuild Tokyo-3 when they learned that more angels were on the way. Reconstructing the fortress city that drew most angel attacks probably seemed the best way for them to keep their own skins safe in Tokyo-2. Construction, though, was a slow process in the shattered city. The few weeks since the renegade attack from SEELE simply wasn't long enough to get the job done. Plenty of construction workers had returned already, but not any children the same age as the pilots. And with her rehabilitation and training schedules, Asuka barely had any time to e-mail Hikari.

Asuka shrugged and pulled on her dress. "The one advantage to this situation," she announced to the empty locker room, "Is that I don't have to wear those drab school uniforms anymore." The green dress she now wore perfectly embodied that advantage. She had gotten it while shopping downtown with Hikari a month or two back. It really wasn't appropriate for a fourteen-year-old girl, as it accentuated almost every curve of her body. Still, the catcalls it elicited from the construction workers gave her a legitimate reason to get angry and blow off a little steam by screaming at someone.

Asuka left the locker room and saw Shinji and Kaoru coming down the hall from the cafeteria. Kaoru's arm was loosely draped around Shinji's shoulders something he frequently did when they were together. He smiled as he said something to Shinji that Asuka couldn't hear. _I wonder what's up with them_, Asuka mused, _They certainly seem to be a little more than friends_. As the boys approached, Shinji said, "That's a nice dress, Asuka. You... you look very pretty."

Asuka smiled at the compliment as Kaoru added, "I agree. That dress makes you look even more lovely than usual, Miss Soryu." Asuka curtseyed and grinned at the boys. "And here I thought you only had eyes for each other," she remarked. Shinji blushed bright red and looked mortified, but Kaoru had almost no reaction at all. "I see many things," he replied with equanimity, "Even when I pay most of my attention to Shinji."

"Well that's a relief. I'd hate for you to get distracted in battle," Asuka said, still grinning. Shinji looked like he might faint in embarrassment. Asuka walked down the hall towards the commissary, pausing for a moment to lean over and whisper in Shinji's ear, "Don't worry. I know where you were _really_ looking."

Even if she couldn't see it, Asuka could feel Shinji's surprised stare as she continued on her way to the cafeteria. As she neared the end of the hall, she heard Kaoru ask, "Um... Shinji? What was that about?"

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"Well, you guys get a day off tomorrow," Misato announced as the group sat down to dinner. Kaoru and Makoto had joined Misato's "family" for the evening meal. "Really?" Asuka asked. "Why?"

"Because tomorrow's Sunday, silly!" Misato chided. "Oh..." Shinji remarked. "I'd forgotten. It's hard to keep track of the days when there's no school..."

"Well, don't worry too much about that!" Misato replied. "School starts again in two weeks." In surprised reaction, Asuka and Shinji's spoons clattered into their bowls. Kaoru merely shrugged and asked, "Will I be in their class?"

"If you want," Misato replied with only slight aggravation. She didn't much like angels, fallen or not. But Kaoru hadn't tried anything in the three weeks he'd been training with the Eva's, and his synchronization ratio had been far lower than before. That, at least, was enough to make Misato give him some benefit of the doubt. Kaoru seemed to be about to say something else, but Asuka cut him off by asking, "How?"

"Well, the school wasn't damaged very much in the blasts, so it's easy to get classes going again. The first houses should be finished by the end of next week, so within another week, there should be enough students in town to justify re-opening the school."

"Is Hikari coming back?" Asuka asked, clearly excited by the prospect. "Yes, I've already talked to her parents." Misato turned to Shinji, expecting him to ask about his friends, but no query was forthcoming. He just meekly picked up his spoon and started eating again. Misato tried to speak, but couldn't come up with anything to say. Makoto rescued the situation. "Well, there's something else to look forward to. Shigeru's band mates are back in town. The apartment they share wasn't damaged at all by the blast, but when most people left, they didn't have jobs anymore. With all the construction workers in town, though, they find themselves needed again."

"Do you want fries with that?" Asuka deadpanned. All of them but Kaoru had seen Shigeru's friends at a club show, and had largely been unimpressed with their professional skills. Everyone laughed even Shinji, though he only managed a halfhearted chortle. Makoto continued, "At any rate, he tells me they will give a concert in a few weeks." Misato rolled her eyes. "We can only hope that they bother to tune their instruments this time," she said. Everyone laughed again they hadn't been too impressed with the band's musical skills, either.

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"I'm bushed," Asuka said. "I'm gonna turn in early."

"You know, you could help the boys with the dishes," Misato noted from the couch where she and Makoto were sitting, watching the TV. Asuka merely laughed and quickly ducked into her room before Misato could make a more convincing argument. Misato just shrugged and turned back towards the television. Makoto had insisted that they watch this strange American cop show from the nineties a ridiculous program about aliens and conspiracies.

In the kitchen, Shinji washed the dishes while Kaoru dried them. The process was carried out in relative silence only the sloshing of the water in the sink could be heard in the room. Shinji wore a frown, and his brow was furrowed with worry. After several minutes, Kaoru decided to break the silence. "Shinji?" he asked. "Yes?" Shinji replied in a whisper-quiet voice. "What is wrong? Asuka seemed very happy to find out that her classmates would be coming back. But you only seem sad. Why?" Shinji washed some spoons and rinsed them off before he quietly replied, "I'd be glad to see them, but... I don't know if I can face Touji."

Kaoru nodded. They'd spoken a few times before about Shinji's guilt over the time his Eva had nearly killed the other boy. "You had no choice, Shinji. You could not have done anything more to save him than you did. I am sure he understands," he said. Shinji rinsed out the last of the pots and handed it to Kaoru. "I know there's nothing more I could do," he said, "but I just... _feel_ I should have done more."

"When terrible things happen, we always feel that we should have done more to prevent them, even when nothing truly could have averted the tragedy. The greatest part of healing the wounds of these events is realizing that there is a limit to the responsibility that we bear," Kaoru said. Shinji nodded halfheartedly as Kaoru gave him a towel to dry his hands. Kaoru then continued, "That is something I had to deal with often as the angel of free will. From the time of the Garden of Eden onward, almost every human tragedy has occurred because of man's ability to choose his own path. For a long time I wept, blaming myself for all of mankind's problems. Eventually though, I witnessed something that made me change my mind."

"What was it?" Shinji asked. Rather than reply verbally, Kaoru closed his eyes and hummed several bars of a tune Shinji knew well: Beethoven's "Ode to Joy." After a few moments, Kaoru opened his eyes and said, "I watched silently when the Ninth symphony was first performed, and even though I had sung in the choirs of the Seraphim at the dawn of time, I was amazed. We never sang anything as grand as that. I realized that the music was also a product of free will because he _chose_ to uplift others, Beethoven produced beauty. "Then I finally understood the nature of my own duty. Free will is not bad, and it is not good... it just is. I protected it as God commanded, and allowed people to make their choice, but ultimately it was always _their_ choice. I bear some blame for evil, but I deserve an equal amount of credit for good. Ultimately, I am not responsible for how people use or misuse God's gifts.

"The same goes for you. Usually, you pilot the Eva. That does not make you responsible for what others do with it. Yes, you were there when it happened, but you did not do that terrible thing to Touji; your father did. He bears the responsibility, not you." Shinji nodded slowly, and Kaoru put an arm around his shoulders. "Thanks," Shinji said. "You always seem to know what to say. I wish I could be like that." "It comes with experience," Kaoru said as he led Shinji out of the kitchen. "When you reach the ripe old age of 10 billion years, you will be able to figure out the right thing to say every time too." Shinji laughed, then stopped short as the sound caused Misato and Makoto to pop upright. The back of the couch had blocked his view of them so that he had thought he and Kaoru were alone in the room. He fought to keep from laughing even harder when the two scooted to opposite ends of the couch. Kaoru, keeping one arm around Shinji's shoulders, redirected the boy to his room.

"Whew," Misato said. "I never thought that having the kids back here would be a _bother_."

"What do you think those two are going to do?" Makoto wondered aloud as Shinji's door closed. "I think," Misato said, "That you should try and concentrate on what _you_ are going to do." Makoto only blushed.

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"Kaoru?"

"Mm?"

"Do you want to be in our class?" Kaoru ran a hand through his unruly hair. "I do not know," he said. "I have never been in a... class before, neither as a human nor as an angel. The need never arose. I do not know if I would... fit in." Shinji gave him a small smile. They were both sitting on his bed. "You certainly wouldn't fit in," Shinji replied, "But then again, none of us really do. I guess they just wanted us to all not fit in together."

"You mean the Eva pilots?" Kaoru asked. Shinji nodded, but then remembered Kensuke. "The pilots... and a few others. I guess our class has a lot of oddballs," he admitted. "I was just asking because... well, I-I'd like you to be in it." Kaoru reached out and tousled Shinji's hair. "Well then, I suppose it is settled," he said. "If you want me around, I will be happy to go."

Shinji smiled, and then said, "Kaoru?"

"Yes?"

"Do you wanna... stay here tonight?" Since Kaoru's return, they hadn't spent the night together. Rather than face the angel-unfriendly Misato, Kaoru had decided to stay at his old place. Kaoru grinned in reply. "Of course," he said. "I even brought a change of clothes in my knapsack." The two quickly changed into their nightclothes, and Shinji turned out the light. He indicated that Kaoru should lie in the bed, and then he lay down on the floor. Kaoru shook his head. "Not this time," he said, and pulled Shinji up into the bed. Shinji didn't resist.

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Makoto waited impatiently, tapping his bare foot on the carpet. He had just awakened, and really wanted to shower. He was waiting outside the bathroom in his towel, listening to the sound of someone getting ready inside. _Whoever's in there is taking his sweet time_, Makoto silently complained. Suddenly, somebody bumped into him from behind. Makoto turned around and saw that the guilty party was Kaoru, whose hair was in such wild disarray that there was no way he could have seen where he was going. He was wearing his nightclothes, and was carrying a towel over his shoulder. "Mmph," said Kaoru sleepily, pushing some of his hair out of his eyes, "Sorry Makoto."

The situation was already awkward, as the presence of both guests in the same hallway at the same early hour would be difficult to explain without venturing into delicate territory. And the scene became even more awkward a moment later when the bathroom door opened to reveal Asuka, whose surprise at seeing the other two was so complete that she dropped her towel.

Asuka made a quick recovery, and promptly slapped the two staring males. "Perverts!" she huffed as she blew past them down the hall and into her room. Makoto shook his head. Kaoru merely shrugged, and indicated that Makoto should go in. As Makoto closed the door, Kaoru padded back down the hall to Shinji's room. As Kaoru slipped back into the bed, Shinji woke up a bit. "Kaoru? Thought'choo were takin' a shower..." he said, snuggling up against his friend's chest.

"Makoto was first," Kaoru said. That bit of information caused Shinji to wake up even more, and he turned to see Kaoru's face. "You see Asuka naked?" Shinji asked. "How did you know?"

"She slapped ya. This time of day, that means she dropped her towel," Shinji replied, rolling over onto his back. He stretched and yawned. Kaoru laughed. "Yes," he said, and also rolled over onto his back. "It must be... interesting living with her," he continued. "It's weird... but it's nice," Shinji mumbled, still not completely awake. "Yes, I can see just how nice," Kaoru said wickedly, glancing at the lump in Shinji's shorts.

Shinji blushed, "Hey! I can't help it it's morning. You've got one too, y'know." Kaoru looked down and saw that Shinji was indeed right. "Oh yes, I keep forgetting... this human body does many things that I never had to worry about when I was an angel," he said. "What, don't angels have... organs?"

"Not those organs," Kaoru said, laughing. "We are sexless. Male and female that was something created for humans and animals, though we can take on either form as we choose. The adjustment is... difficult."

"Well, it looks like you turned out pretty well," Shinji said, eyeing Kaoru's lump. "Well, God is merciful," Kaoru replied with a grin. "Isn't that blasphemous?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I am sure. I was an angel."

"Oh, shut up."

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Sparky

�


	5. NGE: AOTF 04

**NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: ASCENT OF THE FALLEN**

**Part Four:**

By Sparky Clarkson

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In the past, the alarm had achieved its intended effect. The loud ululating scream of the warning siren had been designed to shock those who heard it, jolting them with adrenaline even as it alerted them to danger. In what seemed another life, Shinji had reacted as the makers had hoped, growing tense and grim even before he got suited up for battle. Now, though, the sound had worn itself blunt against his mind from overuse. When the angel attack alarm screamed to life in the depths of NERV Headquarters, Shinji barely flinched.

Shaking his head ruefully as if he'd just heard a sad story on the morning news, Shinji closed the battered copy of Foundation he'd been reading, and set it down next to his coffee cup. He slowly stood up from the well-cushioned chair in the small pilots' lounge, groaning, "It'll never end." He remembered himself after a moment and walked quickly to the boys' locker room.

Kaoru had already gotten into his suit, and he pressed the vacuum-shrink button just as Shinji entered. "It is an attack, is it not?" Kaoru asked as his friend began stripping out of his clothes, folding them neatly before placing them in his locker. "I still do not know what alarm means what."

"Yeah," Shinji replied. After a moment, he asked, "Are you okay with this, Kaoru? I mean, you'll be fighting one of your brothers."

Kaoru nodded as Shinji began stepping into his plugsuit. "I know," he said. As Shinji wriggled all the way in and hit the vacuum switch, Kaoru continued, "It... it is difficult to face the prospect of killing one of my own kin as difficult as it must have been for you, when..." He trailed off for a moment when he saw Shinji's face twist briefly with pain. "But I am a human now. Circumstance forces me to fight against the angels. For the time being, we are enemies."

"I'm sorry, Kaoru," Shinji said, "I wish for your sake... for everyone's sake... that this was over."

Kaoru walked over and patted Shinji on the shoulder. "I know, Shinji. We just have to be strong for now. There will be a reward for our perseverance," he replied.

Shinji sighed, then straightened up. "Come on," he said, "Misato will probably want to brief us."

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"That's not what I expected," Misato said, frowning. "Before, they always came here."

"Yeah, like we were some kind of angel magnet," Shigeru agreed. "Tokyo-3 took the punishment, while the rest of the world asked why they were funding us."

The viewscreens in Central Dogma, however, revealed that the situation had changed. An angel rampaging through city streets was not an unusual sight for Tokyo-3, but the streets under attack this time belonged to Tokyo-2.

The invader crashing through them looked like the folktale version of an angel: a gigantic man with huge wings. Subtle differences, though, made all the difference. The wings were golden in color, and by the way they sliced through steel-reinforced skyscrapers seemed to have strong, razor-sharp edges. Also, the angel possessed a strange beauty never given the messengers in folklore. While the angel was certainly lovely to look at, its appearance also held something else as if the beauty of its soul had shone through to the surface for all to see. Misato felt drawn to the angel, yearning to run and bask in its exquisite, unearthly glow. Apparently, many people in Tokyo-2 felt the same urge; they ran to the immense winged creature and were crushed beneath its massive feet.

"Few can resist the seduction of Jophiel, the angel of beauty," Gendo stated dispassionately. Only he, behind the orange lenses of his glasses, seemed unmoved by the gorgeous angel.

Misato turned, wondering whether the Commander had read her thoughts. After a moment, she asked, "Why is it attacking Tokyo-2? Will it come here soon, like the others?"

"No," Gendo replied. "Not without a change in the situation. These new foes the archangels are not like their brethren. They have no need for unusual shapes to defeat us. Nor do they need to reach Lilith to fulfill their missions. The archangels have both strength and subtlety. They will kill the beast by crushing the head."

Misato thought for a moment, then gasped, "The UN! The full assembly meets in Tokyo-2 now! Jophiel's trying to destroy them!"

Kouzou nodded, saying, "Tokyo-2 is no place for the Evas to fight, though. It is too far away, and there are no places where weapons are hidden. Our attack would come too late, and would not be effective."

Misato knew the answer. "Well, then... if these archangels will not come to us by choice, we must lure them here. For the Strategy Section, I suggest that we evacuate the UN representatives from Tokyo-2 and bring them here."

Gendo gave her a cold smile, and replied, "An excellent suggestion, Major Katsuragi. It has already been implemented. The UN representatives are departing Tokyo-2 in a fleet of VTOL aircraft even as we speak. They will arrive here in 90 minutes, and I expect Jophiel will not be far behind. Ready the operational Eva units."

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The children sat tensely in the briefing room, waiting for Misato to arrive. Asuka sat in the front row, absentmindedly twirling a lock of her auburn hair in her fingers. Shinji sat curled up in one of the chairs, his arms locked around his knees, gazing glumly around the chamber. Kaoru was in the seat next to him, drumming his fingers on the arm of the chair, his expression pensive. Rei sat rigidly in the very back of the room, staring straight ahead.

Misato entered at a brisk pace, scanning the children's faces. Asuka's expression had gone from vacancy to eagerness as soon as Misato arrived, but the other three children didn't change. Seeing Rei in her plugsuit, Misato said, "Rei, you know you don't have to be here. You don't have a unit right now."

"I wish to stay anyway, as... as a show of support," Rei replied guardedly, her voice revealing nothing of her intentions.

Misato nodded, noting the brief flash of surprise that appeared on Asuka's face. Shinji also unfolded from his curled position and sat up on hearing Rei's words. Misato turned to children and began. "As usual," she said, "Our information is sketchy. We've seen some footage of the attacker, but that has told us nothing except that he's big about half again as large as an Eva unit. Hopefully, our numerical advantage will balance out the size disparity."

She continued, "The initial attack occurred at Tokyo-2, beyond the range of our sensors, so in-depth analysis of the angel's structure has been impossible. We have no idea where the core is, or what its capabilities are. So far, it does not seem to have deployed an AT field, but I think it's safe to expect that it will have a pretty powerful one." She glanced at Kaoru. Seeing the angel nod, she added, "I think our best chance in this situation is to use coordinated attacks. Keep track of where you are, and try not to get in each other's way. I'll give you further instructions when we know our tactical situation better. Understood?"

"Yes!" the pilots responded in unison. Misato again found herself studying them. Asuka was enthusiastic as ever. _Always ready to try and prove herself,_ Misato noted, then moved on to Shinji. As usual, he seemed to be a contradiction. His facial expression was one of sad resignation _He never wants the fight,_ Misato thought, _the fight always comes to him,_ but his dark blue eyes displayed a steely determination.

Kaoru, of course, was nearly unreadable beyond his obvious concern for Shinji, he revealed nothing to the Major's eyes. _This is the moment of truth,_ Misato realized, _Today he'll have a golden opportunity to betray us again. I can only hope he's been honest with us._

As the pilots filed out, Rei moved quickly to the front of the room. She gently grabbed Asuka's shoulder, causing the redhead to spin around. "What do you want, Wondergirl?" Asuka asked impatiently. Her resolution to be more patient with others had so far not been extended to Rei.

"Just... good luck," Rei replied quietly.

Asuka was silent for a moment, staring open-mouthed at the red-eyed girl. Then she nodded curtly and said, "Thanks Won... thanks, Rei."

Misato almost did a double-take. _Did I miss something?_ she wondered. She saw Rei lean over and whisper something in Shinji's ear also. The brown-haired boy smiled and seemed to relax slightly after she spoke to him. _Perhaps,_ Misato thought, _They're finally learning to work as a team._

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The three units silently awaited Jophiel's arrival. EVA-01, 02, and 05 stood together, staring towards the giant that walked towards them. Much larger than the Evas, Jophiel seemed unconcerned about the three creatures made from Adam.

"Okay, kids," Misato's voice came in over the commlink, "I've come up with a kind of plan. I think it's best to start simple. I want you to fan out and use your rifles to try and hit that thing from a distance. If that doesn't work, activate your AT fields and move in with prog knives. Understand?"

"Yes."

"Got it!"

"Yes ma'am."

"Damn it Kaoru, don't call me 'ma'am'. It makes me feel old."

"Yes, Major Katsuragi."

Misato shook her head and rubbed her eyes. Though more talkative, Kaoru could be worse than Rei at times. His strangely formal mode of speech often grated on her nerves. "Move out," she ordered.

Asuka swung out to the left, keeping her rifle trained on the angel at all times. Kaoru swung out to the right, making sure his aim remained steady too. Shinji moved forward. Jophiel continued his straight path, essentially ignoring the Evas. "Now!" Misato ordered, and the three Evangelions opened fire.

The antimatter rays splashed up against an invisible barrier and disappeared.

"Such a powerful AT field..." Makoto whispered.

"Scheisse!" Asuka swore, yanking the trigger of her gun a few more times. As before, the ray dissipated against the massive strength of the angel's AT field.

"To think that even this is not his full glory..." Kaoru muttered.

"Shit!" Misato shouted, then got a grip on herself. "All right, then lets move on to Plan B. Asuka and Kaoru, swing out until you are parallel to the angel, then move in. Shinji, you take it from the front when they start to charge. Everyone got it?"

The pilots voiced their assent and began to execute the maneuver. Jophiel seemed to have noticed the last attack, though it had clearly not done him any injury. He moved his head so that his featureless eyes (they had neither iris nor pupil, being pure golden) caught a glimpse of each Eva. The androids reached their appointed positions, and then charged in on the angel.

Jophiel stood impassively as the three Evas approached. The AT fields came in contact and simultaneously neutralized each other. Still, the angel did not so much as twitch until the three Evas were nearly on it. Then, with an almost haughty inclination of his head, Jophiel swept his wings downward, at once sending the Evas crashing to the earth and shooting himself up into the air. The response was so simple that no-one had anticipated it.

Shinji, however, managed to react in time. EVA-01 reached up and stabbed its prog knife into Jophiel's foot. But rather than dragging the angel down, the move caused EVA-01 to be pulled up as the angel flew into the sky. Shinji growled as he tried to make EVA-01 pull itself up further onto the angel's foot. But before he could manage that, the angel kicked its foot violently, shaking the knife loose and causing EVA-01 to fall 200 meters to the ground.

Shinji screamed as EVA-01 hit the ground and bounced twice.

"Shinji!" Asuka and Kaoru shouted at the same time.

"Keep your eyes on Jophiel, dammit!" Misato screamed. "If the angel gets to Shinji right now, he doesn't stand a chance!"

EVA-05 whirled and brought its progressive knife up as Jophiel touched down next to the prone form of EVA-01. But Kaoru's line of attack was momentarily blocked as EVA-02 tore into the angel, it's progressive knife striking at every surface available. Jophiel was forced back towards Kaoru.

The fallen angel wasted no time. He lunged forward and thrust his knife into Jophiel's back. The archangel of beauty whirled with such violence that both Evas were thrown free. EVA-05 landed gracelessly on its shoulder, eliciting a grunt from Kaoru. EVA-02 fared better, landing on its feet in a crouch.

"Come back here, you bastard!" Asuka shouted as Jophiel once again began to advance on EVA-01.

But Shinji had recovered somewhat from his bruising fall. EVA-01 struggled to its feet even as EVA-02 slammed into Jophiel yet again. "Be careful, Asuka," Shinji called, "Nothing's hurt him yet!"

"Wha..." Asuka said as Jophiel once again threw her off. But the truth of Shinji's statement was obvious. Every wound that the Evas had made in the massive creature had already closed up, with no sign of lasting damage.

"What's going on?" Shinji asked as Asuka slowed her attack somewhat.

"The scans aren't much good at this range," Misato said, "But as far as we can tell, the angel isn't feeling any ill effects from this at all. We think that you'll have to destroy the angel's core in a single blow to defeat it," Misato announced over the link.

"Fall back!" Asuka shouted. Kaoru had been about to spring, but saw the wisdom in her advice and took a few steps back. Shinji, still a little shaken and unsteady from his fall, also acquiesced.

"The main problem facing us is that we do not know exactly where Jophiel's core is," Kaoru noted.

"What, don't you know?" Shinji asked in disbelief.

"The location of one's core is not a polite subject to discuss," Kaoru sniffed.

Shinji shook his head ruefully, and began trying to think of some way to determine where the angel's core might be. Jophiel paused in its advance, looking from one Eva to the next while Shinji kept an eye on him. After a few fruitless moments, Shinji asked, "Are you sure we don't know _anything_ about this angel, Misato?"

"Only that he's the angel of beauty, however that helps," Misato replied.

"Beauty... beauty..." Shinji muttered. _Maybe that has something to do with it. What do I know about beauty?_ he thought. After a tense moment, he remembered a discussion he'd had with his teacher about art once. _What did he say,_ Shinji thought, _'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder...'_

"That's it!" Shinji shouted.

"What?" Misato asked immediately.

"Look... I, um... I think the angel's core might be in his eye," Shinji said.

"Perhaps you haven't noticed, stupid," Asuka remarked dryly, "But that thing has two of them."

"Well then, we have to try both," Shinji said. "I'll go for the right, you go left, OK?"

Asuka grunted in assent, adding, "Kaoru... how about you just try to distract it."

"Very well. Let us begin"

Kaoru charged the angel from behind as Shinji and Asuka ran at it from the front. The angel looked like it was going to take off again, but EVA-05 leapt up and buried its prog knife in one of the wings. Kaoru willed his unit to grab the tip of the other wing, howling in pain as the razor-edged appendage cut deeply into the palm of his Eva. The angel, its upward progress halted, attempted to swat the two Evas assaulting it from the front away with its hands. Shinji, still not at full strength after the fall, was caught by one hand and knocked to the side. He was back up almost immediately, but his Eva was limping.

Asuka, on the other hand, leaped over the angel's fist and with an overhand chopping motion buried her Eva's prog knife in the angel's left eye. "It's the right eye!" she shouted, seeing the wound already starting to close.

"I can't make it!" Shinji shouted. Jophiel's massive hand had closed around his Eva's throat. Shinji felt like he was being choked. "Catch!" he coughed, and tossed his prog knife to Asuka. Still holding the first knife in her right hand, she reached out with her left, caught Shinji's blade, reversed it, and plunged it into Jophiel's right eye.

An immense gout of flame exploded from the eye, knocking Asuka back. "AT fields NOW!" Misato shouted over the radio. Kaoru and Asuka managed to throw up fields at full strength, but Shinji in his weakened state could only achieve a half effort. The angel exploded, singeing Shinji's Eva and causing him to feel a burning pain over his whole body. Again, Shinji screamed.

The firestorm was quickly over, leaving no trace that the angel had been there at all. EVA-01 had landed face-down on the ground. EVA-02 was on its back 50 meters to its left, and EVA-05, spilling liters of fluid from its ravaged palm, crouched near the ground 200 meters in front of them. The wound closed quickly.

"Such pain..." Kaoru moaned. "I was not ready for it... I had forgotten..."

Asuka merely panted from exertion for a moment. Then she shouted, "Hey Shinji! You all right?"

"Yeah, I'm OK," Shinji said. His voice was weak, and his breathing was slightly shallower than normal. He grunted as he willed his Eva to push itself into a standing position.

"Good job, kids!" Misato said over the radio. "Get on back to the cages, shower off and relax. Dinner's on me tonight!"

"Please tell me that does not mean you'll be cooking," Asuka said.

"Actually, I was thinking of paying a visit to Shigeru's friends," Misato replied.

"Oh, the Golden Arches," Kaoru replied. "I have been looking forward to seeing them."

Shigeru's rather indignant voice piped in, "Hey man, they're artists. They can't let their creativity be sapped by difficult careers."

Shinji sighed and switched off his communicator.

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Misato picked up the trays and carried them off to the trashcan. The burger joint was packed with people too busy to be bothered with preparing their own food, and Shigeru's long-haired friends were being kept hard at work filling the gap.

Asuka leaned back with a contented sigh. "I haven't had a good burger in a while," she commented.

Kaoru looked a tiny bit queasy. "Is all food that comes from America so... greasy?" he asked. He and Shinji were sitting on the opposite side of the booth from Asuka.

"Oh yeah," Asuka said happily. "Pound for pound, Americans have more fat than any other nation in the world. And that's leaving out the fat in their brains."

"Aren't you American, Asuka?" Shinji asked.

"Ich bin ein Berliner!" Asuka shot back angrily.

"You are a jelly donut?" Kaoru asked innocently. Asuka threw a wadded-up napkin at him.

Misato seemed to be having some trouble getting through the press of people in front of the trash cans. The heavy food and the day's exertion was causing the children to feel lethargic, and they just sat for a moment. Then Shinji said, "Asuka?"

"Yeah?"

"You were great today."

Asuka smiled at Shinji. "Thanks," she said. "You weren't too bad yourself. That was a great throw." Turning to Kaoru, she added, "And you did pretty good too, mop-head. Up until you grabbed that wing, I was thinking you might not have any balls. I guess you grew some."

Shinji and Kaoru looked at each other for a moment after she said that, and then both burst out laughing.

"What?" Asuka asked. "What's so funny?"

But neither boy would answer.

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Shinji slowly sipped the hot tea, sighing quietly as the warm liquid soothed away some of his aches. He'd blended the leaves for this himself a while ago after reading a similar recipe in a magazine. The result was a beverage perfect for relaxing knotted muscles something useful when he was sore from a day of piloting, or tense from the ghost pain that lingered after the Eva sustained an injury.

Shinji took another sip and sank into the cushions of the couch. He watched listlessly as Asuka flipped rapidly through channel after channel on the TV. She sat on the opposite end of the couch from Shinji, with Pen-Pen between them. Occasionally, the bird squawked to show its particular displeasure at a program. A few times, Shinji saw something that looked interesting, but Asuka always moved on and Shinji didn't really care enough to say anything. He planned to go to bed soon, anyway, so there was no sense in starting to watch a show.

Shinji wondered briefly where Misato had gone. After she dropped Kaoru off at his apartment, she'd taken Asuka and Shinji home, then gone back out almost immediately. The major had been intentionally vague about her destination, almost mysterious. "I guess she went to Hyuga-kun's," he said quietly before taking another sip of tea.

"Hm?" Asuka asked, then realized what Shinji was talking about. "Oh, yeah. You're probably right."

The children fell silent again. Pen-Pen gave up on Asuka's ever finding anything to watch, hopped off the couch, and waddled to the kitchen. Shinji drained the last of his tea, letting the final bit of warmth from the liquid spread through his limbs. Asuka took the opportunity to scoot over next to Shinji. The boy shied away a bit, but didn't shift his own location.

"This is so boring," Asuka said, then turned off the TV and tossed the remote over the back of the couch. Shinji shrugged noncommittally and put his teacup down on the floor. Boredom, he had come to realize, was often a welcome change from the hectic events of his recent life. He didn't particularly mind it.

Asuka interrupted his train of thought by asking, "Do you remember what we did last time I got bored?" A sly grin spread across her face.

Shinji blushed and quietly replied, "Yeah."

Asuka reached out and grabbed Shinji's cheek, turning his face towards her. She ran her other hand through his hair and around to the back of his head, pushing him forward so that his lips ever so gently met hers. After a moment, Shinji's arms wrapped lightly around Asuka's shoulders and pulled her closer to him.

A few seconds later, Asuka broke the kiss and dropped her arms so that they were hugging Shinji's torso. "Your breath still tickles when you kiss," she quietly scolded.

Shinji smiled slightly. "You... you didn't seem to mind this time," he responded, blushing.

Asuka smiled slightly, explaining, "You do the other parts well enough to make up for that." She leaned away from him and broke the embrace, sliding back onto the cushions of the couch.

"Shinji?" she asked, "Do you remember when I first woke up and asked you what was wrong because you looked so thin?"

"Yeah."

Asuka's eyes softened a bit at that word. The wavering in Shinji's voice had alerted her that this was still painful territory for her roommate. "I just wanted to know if you feel up to talking about it yet," she said.

"I, um... I..." Shinji said, trying to start up. He wanted to tell Asuka about it, but he had a hard time making the words come out. Finally he managed to say, "It... it's about Kaoru."

"Really? I was wondering about that. Until you kissed me back a moment ago, I thought he might be your boyfriend."

Shinji blushed deep red. "It... it... it's not like that," he said, "We don't... I mean..." He trailed off into random syllables. Finally he pulled himself together enough to say, "It's hard to explain."

Asuka smiled, and said "It's all right." She paused, then asked, "So what happened with him that hurt you so much?"

Shinji closed his eyes and fell limply back into the cushions of the couch. "It all happened so fast," he said. "You disappeared for almost a week, and I was going crazy. I couldn't really talk to Misato or Rei, and without you... I felt so alone. On the same day security found you, Kaoru showed up.

"He... I still can't explain it very well... he makes me feel wonderful. When he's talking to me, I feel so calm and comfortable, like none of my problems really matter. We became good friends so quickly... He said... he said..." Shinji suddenly found himself freezing up. How could he explain this to Asuka? Sure, she was much nicer after leaving her coma, but he still had no idea how to deal with her, and no clue how she would react to what he did. And those words... they were so personal, so precious to him. How could he tell her about them?

Asuka grabbed Shinji's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "It's all right," she said. "If you can't tell me now, just hold onto it. I don't want to upset you."

Shinji wondered at the expression of compassion in her eyes. _I never thought she could show such kindness,_ he mused. He took a deep breath and continued, "Thanks, Asuka. Like I said, we became friends really fast. But... but it all went wrong. He... he... was an angel. He almost destroyed all of us, but..."

Asuka reassuringly squeezed Shinji's hand as he continued, "In the end, Kaoru gave himself up. He surrendered to me, and he said that either he could survive or I could. He wanted me to live, so he told me to kill him. And... I did."

Asuka's jaw dropped. "You... killed him?" she asked.

"I murdered my last friend, Asuka. I felt so dirty and alone... I just wanted everything to go away. I think, subconsciously, I was trying to starve myself to death."

"So how'd Kaoru come back?" Asuka asked.

"His soul went up to heaven and he decided to fall back to earth so that... so that he could be with me. So now he's human, like us."

Asuka nodded. For a moment she sat, apparently lost in thought. Then she said, "I can see why you felt so bad. I know it can't be undone, but for what it's worth, I wish that it had been someone else who had to do that."

"Thanks," Shinji said. After a moment, he added, "I... I'm glad you're home, Asuka. I really missed you. I never knew before you went away how much I... I needed you."

Asuka blushed slightly. "Idiot," she muttered, tousling Shinji's hair. "I'm really glad you didn't manage to starve yourself while I was out." She paused, then continued, "I don't remember much of the time I spent in the coma, but I do remember that... your voice was the sound that set me free. Kaoru's not the only one who came back because of you."

Shinji's smiled at his red-headed roommate. "Thanks," he whispered. The two children simply sat there on the couch for a few minutes, relaxing.

At last, Asuka stood up and patted Shinji's shoulder. "I'm worn out," she said, "I'm gonna go to bed."

"Me too," Shinji agreed, standing slowly. He winced slightly as a twinge of phantom pain in his knee shot up through his leg. He walked gingerly to his room, as Asuka went to hers.

Just as he was about to go in, he heard, "Good night, Shinji-kun."

"Good night, Asuka... thanks for listening."

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Ritsuko chuckled a grim, quiet sound in the close confines of the van. The blonde scientist sat comfortably on one of the bench seats, her cuffed hands resting in her lap. One of the security guards had just buckled her in, and was now closing the door of the black van. The color had incited Ritsuko's laughter. _I can only wonder,_ she thought, _Why they always choose black as the color of these vans. They certainly couldn't pick anything more conspicuous. One day they'll probably get burned for their lack of creativity._

The guard locked the door and then moved to sit in the bench behind her. Ritsuko watched him for a moment out of the corner of her eye, then turned back to face the front. The other two guards in the van sat in the driver and passenger seats. They talked quietly for a moment, and then started the van.

"So where am I going?" Ritsuko asked.

The guard in the passenger seat turned around. "There's a detention facility at supply dump 045 in the mountains. We're taking you there, ma'am," he replied.

Ritsuko gave the man a wry smile. "I don't suppose I can expect a trial when I get there," she stated.

The guard shrugged. "I wouldn't know anything about that, ma'am. I'm only here to make sure you don't escape."

Ritsuko looked down at the padlocked heavy steel cuffs on her hands as the van began to roll. "I'm sure the task will be a worthy challenge to your professional capabilities," she replied with a rueful grin.

The guard smiled, laughed, and turned back towards the front. Ritsuko continued to face forward. The van had no windows in the rear, so her only view was through the windshield as the guard quickly drove the van through the streets of Tokyo-3. _Hmm,_ she thought, _They seem to have built the city back almost completely._ She caught a glimpse of ammo being loaded into one of the depots and continued, _And it seems the angels are still a threat. My ears didn't deceive me yesterday after all._

Ritsuko had hardly believed her senses when she heard the angel attack siren the previous morning. Everything she had learned from Gendo had led her to believe that Tabris was the last angel. Then again, she should have known that the scenario had changed when she didn't turn into LCL within a few days of Tabris's death.

_I wonder how Gendo is taking the delay,_ Ritsuko thought. _He always showed such eagerness for the complementation project._

The van pulled onto the highway and turned towards the mountains, accelerating as it hit more deserted roads. Ritsuko closed her eyes and tried to work out a geometric proof in her head. She instantly visualized a right triangle and began casting about mentally for some new avenue of approach. Since she'd been arrested, she had proven the Pythagorean theorem 20 different ways. The past week had been a dry spell, though, with only one proof to show for days of thought. She decided that she would have to redouble her efforts. _I wonder if it can be done with circles..._ she mused, then lost the thought as the van turned onto a gravel road.

"Shit," she muttered, and opened her eyes again. In the twilight, the mountain they were now driving up took on a startling golden color. _Natural beauty,_ Ritsuko mused, _It's been so long since I thought about it. After all that time I spent working to improve nature, I forgot how wonderful the original itself can be..._

For several kilometers, Ritsuko just gazed through the windshield at the scenery the van was passing through. The bumpy ride over the gravel was just beginning to get to her when the van suddenly spun out of control and skidded into a ditch.

"Dammit!" the driver swore, "That's a blowout. At least we've got a spare in the back. Come on, help me." He tapped the arm of the man in the passenger seat, and both guards got out. A moment later, Ritsuko heard the rear doors of the van open. The guard behind her made a grunting noise as he helped them free up the spare tire. Then he made a gurgling noise. Dead silence settled over the area.

Ritsuko closed her eyes. _Three dead,_ she thought. _Gendo must truly hate me if he is willing to kill three of his own guards just to cover my murder._

Strangely, though, the death blow she expected never came. Instead, the van door opened to reveal two men in camouflage uniforms. One of them spoke as the other unbuckled Ritsuko and undid her handcuffs. "Good evening ma'am," he said, "You have been rerouted. You may now choose your destination. If you come with us, you will become an employee of the Japanese Intelligence Agency."

"And if I decide not to?"

"Then we will shoot you and blow your body up when we explode the van."

"Not much of a choice, is it?" Ritsuko asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No."

"I assume I will be assigned to try and wheedle some secrets out of NERV for the JIA?"

"I do not know, ma'am. I am a retrieval specialist, and information about you is need-to-know only."

"It's not so much of a mystery, anyway. I agree."

"Walk this way, ma'am," the operative said, and led Ritsuko away while his partner began placing explosives all over the van. Out of the corner of her eye, Ritsuko saw the bodies of the dead guards slumped near the rear of the vehicle.

"I am sorry," a familiar voice said, "It could not be done any other way."

Ritsuko spun towards the source of the voice, her eyes widening as they confirmed what her ears had told her. "You?" she gasped.

"Yes," the man replied. "It's time to start setting things right. Gendo has gone far enough."

"I agree. But I would never have expected you to do something like this."

"I did not always work for him, Ritsuko. I have decided that I will not work for him any more."

"'To everything there is a season,'" Ritsuko quoted.

"'And a time to every purpose under heaven,'" Kouzou replied.

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"Report," Gendo said coldly as Kouzou entered the frigid office.

Kouzou looked down to the sheaf of papers in his hand. "The manifest confirms that three boxes of high explosive shells were placed in the van to be taken to the supply dump. All evidence points to an accident. Tracks in the gravel indicate that the van drove off the road for some reason. If the shells were not properly secured, they might have gone off when the van stopped," he said.

"Survivors?"

"None," Kouzou said, frowning. "I'm sorry Gendo, but... there's no doubt. She's dead."

Gendo snorted. "Dead, alive... it makes no difference to me now. She was of no further use to me," he retorted. After a pause he continued, "Delete this incident from the records, and change them so that they give no destination for her extradition. Though Akagi was useless, there are some useful people who might become difficult to control should they learn of her death."

"Yes, sir," Kouzou replied.

"That will be all."

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Shinji set down the water can and gently brushed some dirt off one of the leaves of the vine. The moist soil adhered to his skin, staining the depressions between the ridges on his fingers brown, but he didn't mind. The process of gardening relaxed him more than any other activity. _No wonder Kaji-san always liked to come here, _Shinji thought as he released the leaf and rested his hands in the rich loam. As he kneaded the soil with his fingers, he listened to the whir of the fans in the Geofront, and Kaoru's humming. The fallen angel was leaning against a tree several feet away, repeating the melody of the hymn from Holst's "Jupiter." Shinji closed his eyes and let his mind float free, at peace in the midst of the idyllic scene.

"Making mud pies, Third Child?" Asuka asked. Shinji opened his eyes to see her standing at the edge of the clearing that held the little garden. Her voice had been slightly mocking, but her expression didn't seem to hold any malice.

Shinji grinned. "No," he replied softly, "just... gardening."

Asuka walked across the clearing to the melon patch and took in the sight of the healthy plants. "I guess it stands to reason that you would have a green thumb," she said, smirking, "You're so domesticated."

"Green thumb?" Kaoru asked, seeming slightly confused. He looked at Shinji's mud-splattered hands. "Shinji's thumbs are brown," he commented.

"It's an idiom, stupid," Asuka replied. "It means he has a gift for making plants grow."

"Oh," Kaoru replied, "I see. Well, the ability to help life thrive is something we all have, yet still it is a rare and wonderful gift."

"I think I know what you mean," Shinji said, nodding. He brushed his fingers lightly along one of the vines as he continued, "As pilots, our job is to take life. We're supposed to be proud of our skill at killing. But I gain more satisfaction from taking care of these plants than from doing anything in Eva."

"So you planted these yourself?" Asuka asked.

"No," Shinji replied, still staring at the vines, "They... they were Kaji's... before he disappeared."

An uneasy silence settled over the clearing for several moments.

Asuka broke it by saying, "I miss him, Shinji. I wish he were here."

Shinji didn't lift his head. "I do too," he murmured.

After a moment, Asuka asked, "Shinji?"

Shinji looked up. "Yeah?"

"Could... could I help?"

Shinji blinked. Asuka had been a little different since she got out of her coma, but he would never have expected her to do something like this. _I guess it's because they were Kaji's,_ he thought. A few seconds later, he said, "Sure. I read a whole book on taking care of these. The secret, you see, is to make sure you water them regularly..."

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EVA-00's massive, single eye stared blankly at the trio standing on the catwalk. Maya turned to face Rei and asked, "Are you ready to get back into the Eva, Rei?"

"I must."

"That's not true," Misato said. "If you have any misgivings at all we can put this off. We need a fourth pilot, but there's no need to rush."

"Eventually, though, I must go in," Rei replied, her face expressionless. "It is no worse to go now than later."

Misato shook her head. There was no getting around that simple truth. Commander Ikari had ordered Rei to once more begin training in EVA-00, and so, inevitably, she would. Nothing could brush aside that iron order.

"I will change now," Rei said quietly, and left.

Maya watched Rei leave, shaking her head as the girl walked calmly out of the room. "It's so sad," she sighed. "She seemed to be doing so well... just the other day she read a poem for me, and she sounded so... so _normal._ But now it's back to this the same old robotic Rei."

Misato nodded and said, "I know. Since Kaoru's return, she's been behaving more like an everyday girl. I can't explain why she started to change... but I have some ideas on what reversed the trend."

"You think that the prospect of getting back into the Eva has her retreating into her shell."

"It makes sense, doesn't it?" Misato said. "Asuka's Eva tried to steal her mind. Touji's Eva destroyed his body. Shinji's Eva swallowed him completely for a while. Maybe Unit Zero saps Rei's personality."

Maya frowned and bit her lip. "It's something to look into," she said, "Even if I'm not sure there's anything I can do about it. I'll go examine some of her neural records. Maybe there's some trauma associated with her experiences in Unit Zero that we haven't caught on to yet."

Misato nodded, but thought, _Or maybe it's just that getting into EVA-00 reminds her of what she really is. That's trauma enough._ After a moment she said, "Go ahead and do it. A personality isn't essential for a pilot, but I think the four of them would work together better if she had one. In the meantime, we should probably try to cheer her up."

Maya nodded, then turned to Misato with a confused look on her face. "How do you plan to do _that_?" she asked. "Rei isn't the most responsive of people, even when she's in a more normal mood."

"I'm not sure yet," Misato said, "but I have an idea..."

�


	6. NGE: AOTF 05

**NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: ASCENT OF THE FALLEN**

**Part Five:**

By Sparky Clarkson

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"Good morning, Asuka," Misato said.

Her greeting provoked a disgruntled "mmpff" from the redheaded girl as she stalked across the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. Asuka pawed through the rows and rows of beer cans, looking for her orange juice. With a triumphant grunt, she seized the bottle, twisted off the lid, and quickly chugged almost half of it down.

Misato giggled. "Are you going to give an imitation of my victory yell next?" she asked.

"Yeee," Asuka replied dryly. She took another swig of the juice and pushed the refrigerator door closed. "Where's Shinji?" she asked, gazing around the somewhat untidy kitchen.

"He went grocery shopping with Kaoru," Misato said, frowning. "He left a plate of eggs and bacon for you in the microwave."

"Just as long as he left me _something_ to eat," Asuka replied, turning on the microwave to heat her breakfast. She turned and leaned against the counter, taking another gulp of the orange juice. Asuka swirled the juice around in the bottle and studied her guardian, who sat at the kitchen table reading a report and sipping from a can of beer. "You don't like Kaoru very much, do you?" she asked.

Misato frowned. "No," she replied, "I don't."

"Is that because he was an angel?"

Misato put down the report and her beer, fixing Asuka with a piercing gaze. "And just how did you find that out, Miss Soryu?" she asked sourly.

"I coaxed it out of Shinji."

Misato shook her head and picked the report up again. "You really shouldn't have done that, Asuka," she calmly scolded, "Technically, you're not supposed to know about Kaoru's... unusual position. And finding it out from Shinji... that mess really hurt him. I think it might be better if you left those emotions alone."

Asuka nodded. "I thought about that. But he wanted to talk about it some," she answered, "And... I wanted to lend an ear. Perhaps I shouldn't have let it go as far as it did."

"Perhaps," Misato replied, frowning. "I just hope you're mature enough to deal with this the right way," she added.

Asuka snorted angrily as the microwave dinged to let her know her food was ready. "Maybe you should trust me a little more!" she snapped. "I know Shinji's telling me about what happened made him vulnerable. Sure, sometimes I'm not as nice as I could be, but that doesn't mean I'd use something like this to hurt him! I'm not some bitch who toys with people's emotions just because I can!"

Misato froze for a moment while Asuka yanked the microwave open and pulled out her breakfast. Then she nodded. "You're right," she admitted, "Sometimes I think working for NERV has twisted me permanently made me suspect everyone of having some ulterior motive."

Asuka fumbled through a drawer momentarily to find a fork, then viciously dug into her breakfast. After a few chews she calmed down enough to speak civilly. "Then maybe you should give Kaoru a chance," she said around a mouthful of scrambled eggs. "He seems like a nice enough guy. He's a little weird, but it's not... he just seems to be so, well... innocent. I'm sure it doesn't even occur to him that people think strange things about his relationship with Shinji."

"Maybe," Misato answered noncommittally, "I just find it really hard to trust one of the angels after all things they've done to me and the rest of the world you kids in particular." She took a big swig of her beer and picked up another report. "Speaking of giving people a chance," she said, "I've noticed that you seem to be getting along better with Rei."

Asuka swallowed her mouthful of bacon and eggs. "Yeah," she said, "Rei seems to have changed a little, too. She's a little more talkative, now... but not really normal."

Misato nodded. "Well, you know we had planned to have a party tonight. Perhaps if you had her over you could get her to open up a little," she suggested.

"Do you think she'd come?"

"I think she'd be reluctant," Misato admitted. "Rei's usually not very fond of big gatherings. But I think she might want some extra company today..."

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Rei carelessly pulled on her school uniform. Her performance on today's synchronization test had not been optimal. The result had been a 30 synch ratio not bad, for having such a long absence from Eva. Or had she only just began? Everything still seemed so strange to her the memories from the First and Second remained somewhat jumbled in her mind. She had been given little chance to organize her thoughts, due to her contact with Adam and the tempestuous events brought on by Tabris... _No,_ she reminded herself, _his name is Kaoru._ She had not heard anyone call him Tabris. Why, then, did she always think of him with that name?

A tap on her shoulder interrupted Rei's reverie. "Hey, Wondergirl," Asuka said, "You wanna go get lunch in the cafeteria?"

_An invitation..._ Rei thought, _She has never requested my company before._ Despite her confusion, she nodded, and Asuka led her out of the locker room.

"The boys said they were going to wait for us," Asuka said.

"The boys..?" Rei said, still being half-pulled by the ebullient redhead.

"Yeah, silly. The other pilots. Shinji and Kaoru, remember?"

"I... remember. I just..."

Asuka turned around and put her hands on her hips. "You just what? Can't stand 'em? I know they're perverts, but they're okay for short periods of time," she replied with a superior grin. Rei blushed very slightly. "Oh, I get it," Asuka said triumphantly. "You like one of them!"

Rei tried to respond in the negative, but only succeeded in letting her jaw drop open. "I..." she said, but trailed off as Asuka held a finger to her lips.

"I'll be! Wondergirl actually likes a boy! Don't worry, I won't let them in on your secret," she said, then turned and began pulling Rei down the hall again. Rei just shrugged and began to walk faster to keep up.

When they reached the cafeteria, Rei saw Shinji and Kaoru leaning up against the wall next to the entrance. Shinji drummed his fingers lightly on the doorframe, and he looked slightly uncomfortable. Tabris no Kaoru, Rei again corrected herself was giving the world his usual oblivious smile. As the girls approached, Shinji flashed both of them a slight grin.

"If you ate a bigger breakfast and drank less coffee you wouldn't always be so impatient to eat lunch," Asuka scolded as the two girls walked up. The smile on the redhead's face told Rei that her nagging was meant to tease Shinji more than to actually change his behavior. At the same time, however, Rei realized that her own stomach felt rather empty as well. So she was relieved when Shinji decided not to respond. Instead he shrugged, sighed, and then opened the cafeteria door, holding it while the others walked through.

Since it was already one in the afternoon, Rei was not surprised to see that the cafeteria had mostly been deserted. The large room was arranged to look like a restaurant, even down to the booths lining one wall. Most of the people still in the commissary were eating at more central tables, though. At this late hour, few of them had companions for their meals. These were the people who had manned stations while their friends had eaten earlier.

_Friends,_ Rei thought, glancing at her fellow pilots as they walked to the serving line. _Is that who they are to me? Or do I feel... something more? And what am I to them?_

The servers had started to put away the food, but seeing the children approach, they replaced some of the trays. Rei helped herself to her customary meal of ramen and stir-fried vegetables. After adding a glass of cold tea to her tray, she carried it over to the booth where Asuka was already sitting. Rei slid into the booth next to Asuka as Kaoru and Shinji sat down on the other side.

Without further ado, the children began to eat. As she moved her chopsticks in quick, efficient strokes, Rei watched the other pilots eat. Asuka was sloppiest, but quickest, shoveling clumps of food in as rapidly as she could. Shinji's eating habits more resembled Rei's he ate rather slowly, trying to be as neat as possible. Kaoru was midway between Asuka and Shinji: slow, sloppy habits suggested that he hadn't quite gotten the hang of eating.

Asuka, of course, finished first, and then pushed her tray away with a satisfied sigh. "That felt good going down," she said, glancing at Rei.

Rei swallowed her mouthful, then dabbed at her lips with a napkin. "It's good enough, I suppose," she said.

"Shinji's cooking is better," Kaoru noted, accidentally letting a noodle slip onto the table as he talked.

The recipient of the compliment blushed and slurped a final noodle into his mouth. "I doubt I could do so well with the large amounts they make here," Shinji replied. He set his chopsticks down on his tray and smiled slightly.

"Plus, your cooking probably improves by comparison with Misato's," Asuka noted.

"Yeah, Pen-Pen's cooking is better than hers," Shinji agreed.

"Pen-Pen?" Rei asked. The name seemed familiar, but she couldn't place it exactly.

"Misato's penguin, silly," Asuka replied.

"Oh."

"Speaking of cooking, whose turn is it tonight?" Kaoru asked.

"Please, please say it's yours," Asuka begged Shinji.

Shinji nodded. "Yep. I've got some new recipes I want to try. I was thinking of doing a buffet or something."

"A buffet?" Asuka asked. "For who? I mean, if it's just you, me, Misato, Kaoru, and Hyuga-kun, that seems a little much."

Shinji took a gulp of his drink. "Well, T-Touji and Kensuke are back in town, so I thought I'd have them over. And of course, I thought you'd invite Hikari," he responded.

Asuka nodded, saying "Eight's a good number, but... Rei, why don't you come? Nine's much better."

Rei swallowed a half-chewed mouthful. _Another invitation?_ she wondered, _What could she intend by doing this?_ She gazed placidly at the redhead, masking her confusion as she searched for sign that the question had been asked in jest. She saw no hints of insincerity, however. Still, she felt some reluctance. There would be so many people! "I... it would be an inconvenience..."

"Nonsense!" Asuka snorted and glared at Shinji.

"Yeah, c'mon Rei. I have some vegetarian dishes I'd like to make for you," Shinji said.

"You... would do that?"

"Sure," Shinji said, his face flushing slightly. He bowed his head, suddenly captivated by something on his tray.

_He wishes to do something for me,_ Rei realized. _I should not be ungrateful._ She nodded her head, and said, "Then I should..."

"Great!" Asuka said. "Dinner's at eight."

As the boys stood up to bus their trays, Rei wondered what she'd gotten herself into by accepting the invitation. She watched Shinji and Kaoru leave the cafeteria, and continued staring at the door after they left. Abruptly, she felt a tapping on her shoulder. She turned to see a smirking Asuka.

"So which one is it, Wondergirl?" the German girl asked. "You can't pretend that Shinji's offer didn't move you..."

"I..." Rei began, and blushed.

"It is Shinji!" Asuka exclaimed, then suddenly changed to a pensive attitude. "Or are you just using him to make Kaoru jealous?"

"I... do not know."

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"How were the tests, Lieutenant Ibuki?" Gendo asked, entering the command center.

Maya was hunched over a computer terminal, overseeing the Magi as they crunched the numbers from the day's work. She turned and said, "Inconclusive, commander. Rei's scores are up, but since we've only run three tests the Magi can't predict a general trend. I estimate at least two more full tests are needed before the Magi are willing to make a prediction."

"A precise prediction may not be necessary," Gendo replied. "All we need is an estimation of battle readiness."

"I can have that for you before 1700. Still, I'd like to run the tests to get a precise answer, just to be sure."

Gendo nodded. "Do it," he said, then turned to leave.

"Um, Commander?" Maya asked.

"Yes?" Gendo replied, looking back at the Lieutenant over his shoulder.

"I... I've been meaning to ask you... I went over the pilots' medical records and realized that there weren't any genetic variation reports in there for Rei. I was wondering if you knew about that."

Gendo turned his face back towards the door. _Asking questions already,_ he thought, _But I cannot very easily replace her. Still, she must be controlled..._ He looked back at her eager face. "I will look into it," he said. "Bring the reports from the Magi to my office at 1700 and we'll discuss this then." Maya nodded and turned back to her computer as Gendo left the room.

"Yes..." he murmured, "control..."

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"So she's coming?" Misato asked.

Asuka nodded. "It worked perfectly. I could swear she started to melt when Shinji said he wanted to make some special vegetarian stuff just for her," she replied.

Misato and Asuka were sitting in Misato's living room. The sounds of clanking pots and pans, as well as some smells of cooking food, were already emanating from the kitchen. "Aren't you going to help the boys?" Misato asked.

"Oh please. I'm a worse cook than you are," Asuka replied wryly.

Misato snorted. "I doubt you're any worse than Kaoru. He's certainly never bothered to cook before. That's probably why he eats over here all the time."

"Even when _you're_ doing the cooking. He probably doesn't have any taste buds."

"Hey!"

Asuka grinned. "Well, as much as he helps Shinji out, Kaoru's probably picked _something_ up," she said. "I'm still hopeless."

"Well maybe you should help Shinji out more. You'll never attract a man if you can't cook a good meal," Misato teased.

"Yeah, I might end up an old maid like you!" Asuka shot back, then ducked Misato's attempt to tackle her. As Misato recovered from the miss, Asuka jumped over a chair to put some distance between herself and the irate Major.

A knock at the door interrupted their roughhousing. Asuka gave the "time out" sign, then straightened her clothes and walked over to answer it. "Hikari!" she shouted, and hugged her friend. "What a lovely dress!"

Hikari grinned, smoothing the pleats in the blue skirt. "Thanks," she said. "Touji bought it for me."

"Touji?" Asuka whispered. "You let that jerk buy you a dress?"

"He insisted I have something new to wear tonight," Hikari said, giggling girlishly.

Asuka's next comment was interrupted by Makoto's arrival. The technician was wearing slacks and a dress shirt, and carried a bouquet of violets and white carnations. "Hi girls," he said. "Can I come in?"

"Of course, lovebird," Asuka said, stepping aside.

Asuka and Hikari stayed at the door for a moment after Makoto entered. "Is she really dating that guy?" Hikari whispered conspiratorially.

"Ya. It's shameful, the way they carry on," Asuka replied. The two girls walked into the apartment to find Misato and Makoto seated very close together on the couch. When Hikari giggled, they quickly scooted apart a little, which provoked a loud laugh from Asuka.

Before the redhead could sit down, however, another knock came on the door. Asuka groaned and walked back to the entrance. The sight that greeted her when the door opened didn't improve her mood. "Two of the idiot trio," she sneered as she stood back to let Kensuke and Touji in.

Touji grunted, then stomped past her, limping slightly as he walked into the room. His obliterated left arm and leg had been replaced with advanced artificial limbs. Asuka noted that they could barely be distinguished from the real thing, complete as they were with toned skin and fully articulated digits. Still, subtle differences in the boy's motion spoke to the incompleteness of the technology. Touji's movements had once been agile, made catlike by his athleticism. Now his steps stuttered, as if he were having trouble keeping his balance. Asuka frowned at the loss, realizing that she and Shinji hadn't been the only ones to pay for this war.

Once inside, Touji immediately scanned the room to find Hikari, and his face broke into a broad grin when he saw that she was wearing the dress he had bought her. The boy made a beeline to the couch, sitting down heavily and throwing his good arm around the inchou.

Kensuke, on the other hand, began to pelt Asuka with questions. "How was the battle against that last angel? Did anyone get hurt? I hear that you had to stab it in the eyes! Is that true? How did that feel? What's the new pilot like?"

Asuka finally clamped her hand over his mouth to shut the boy up. "The new pilot's in the kitchen," she said, "Why don't you go ask him?" the redhead slowly released her grip.

"Really? I'll go talk to him!" Kensuke said, grinning. Asuka rolled her eyes as the inquisitive otaku wandered into the kitchen... and emerged only a moment later, pursued by a madly squawking Pen-Pen. The warm-water penguin stopped at the door to the kitchen, huffing loudly, as the people in the living room laughed at Kensuke. "They don't want to be bothered until dinner is ready," Kensuke said by way of explanation.

"And when's that gonna be, I'd like ta know," Touji said.

Asuka looked at the clock and saw that it read 7:45. "About 15 minutes," she announced happily.

The time passed quickly. The dinner get-together was a reunion for all the children, and most of them had been completely separated since the destruction of Tokyo 3. Thankfully, Kensuke chose to ignore Asuka in his further inquiries, focusing instead on Makoto and Misato. The expressions on their faces as they tried to simultaneously answer as many of the excited boy's questions as possible and maintain proper confidentiality were priceless.

Hikari spent most of the time talking to Asuka, much to Touji's annoyance. Still, he kept his good arm around her shoulder. Occasionally, he would interject questions about how Shinji was doing, and whether they would have the same boring teacher when the school reopened. At Hikari's request, he also recounted a few stories about his sister Anita, whose condition had started improving rapidly after she was moved to the NERV hospital.

Suddenly, the conversations were interrupted by Pen-Pen's squawking. Asuka turned and saw that the penguin was jumping up and down, yammering as loudly as he could, and pointing to the door at the same time.

Asuka signaled for silence. That didn't work, though, so she shouted "QUIET!" Everyone present knew the danger in ignoring that voice. Silence fell immediately as she walked to the door. "Ladies and Gentlemen," Asuka began, "Our guest of honor..." she drew back the door to reveal an expressionless Rei. "Ayanami Rei!" Asuka finished, reaching out to pull the shy girl into the room.

Everyone applauded as Rei gaped. "Why..." she began.

Asuka leaned over and whispered in her ear, "It's your birthday, silly. Misato checked it in the records."

"Oh. I had forgotten." Rei seemed uncertain, but she was also wearing a slight smile.

Everyone's attention was drawn to the kitchen as Kaoru banged on an empty pot with a spoon. "Dinnertime, everyone. Grab a plate and serve yourself."

The kitchen had been turned into a makeshift buffet, featuring foods from half-a-dozen cuisine styles. The serving bowls and pots all had signs on them: FRIED OKRA, MASHED POTATOES, LAMB SAAGWALA, BRATWURST & KRAUT, and numerous others. Shinji had clearly outdone himself, and looked faintly worn-out. "I don't know if all of it goes together," he said, "but some of the ingredients for things I knew would taste good together were too hard to find."

Everyone chose different combinations. Asuka, who found herself feeling strangely ravenous, plopped some potatoes and saagwala on her plate, adding some wurst and kraut in memory of her home country. She noticed that Rei carefully avoided the meat.

Asuka used a spoon to get a lump of potatoes. The taste was pretty bland, but not unpleasant. She'd had them before, in the States, but the Americans always put too much salt on them. She next swallowed a bit of the saagwala a strange stew-like combination of spinach and meat. She immediately stuffed another bite of the potatoes into her mouth to counteract the spicy dish. They went oddly well together.

"Shinji, this is delishious!" Misato gushed as she stuffed a bite of something that Asuka recognized as CHEESE SOUFFLE into her mouth. The boy didn't reply, but smiled slightly. He seemed oddly withdrawn.

"Yes, Shinji. Thank you," Rei said. This time, Shinji blushed and stared down into his plate. Asuka smiled at his discomfort and stuffed a slice of bratwurst into her mouth.

Most of the boys were too busy stuffing their faces to compliment the chef, but Hikari leaned over and whispered something in Shinji's ear as she walked past, getting more water from the kitchen. Shinji smiled slightly at whatever she said, but looked strangely glum only a moment later.

Asuka decided to concentrate on getting Rei to open up. She leaned over to the introverted girl and whispered, "Doesn't Shinji look really cute with that expression on his face?" Rei nearly dropped her spoon and looked at Asuka quizzically. "Well, doesn't he?" Asuka demanded.

"I... suppose so," Rei whispered back.

"He's so dull though," Asuka said. "Gloomy on a happy occasion like this."

"Happy?" Rei asked.

"Of course. Birthdays are always happy occasions!"

"Oh."

Asuka continued her efforts to gossip with Rei all through dinner, but had to desist afterwards, as she had promised to do the dishes. Most of the girls went into the kitchen to pitch in, but Kaoru firmly blocked all of Rei's attempts to do the same, ushering her out into the living room so she could relax.

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Shinji stood out on the balcony, morosely gazing at the reconstruction of Tokyo-3. He heard the door open and close, but did not turn around, hoping that whomever had come out would leave him alone.

"So..." Touji said. The word died in the humid air, losing its force almost as soon as it was said. Shinji cringed from it all the same.

"I'm sorry, Touji," he replied quietly. "I tried to stop it, but... I wasn't strong enough." Still, he could not turn to face the boy his friend, who had been crippled at the hands of his Eva.

"I heard... Kensuke told me... that you threatened to attack NERV headquarters for what they did."

"Yes," Shinji whispered.

"That was pretty cool. I appreciate it," Touji said warmly.

Shinji dared to half turn around. "Then... you don't... hate me?"

Touji shook his head and stepped forward, placing his good hand on Shinji's shoulder. "Nah. Misato explained what happened I know it wasn't your fault. I hate the guy who _really_ did this to me. I hate your dad."

"That makes two of us."

The balcony was silent for several minutes, and then Touji said, "Well, I want to meet this Kaoru kid we haven't been properly introduced. Besides, I think there's a girl in there with _very_ nice calves who would like to thank you _properly_ for making her birthday dinner."

The two boys started to turn, but froze as a quiet voice said, "There's no need to leave. I came out to thank him myself."

Touji coughed loudly and blushed bright red, then excused himself and left as quickly as possible, trying to disguise his limp for Shinji's sake. Shinji and Rei were left alone on the balcony.

"My calves?" Rei asked calmly. Shinji could have sworn there was actually a twinkle in her eyes.

"It's a joke... something he and Kensuke said when I first came here and asked about you. You have more admirers than you know."

Rei smiled slightly in the darkness and stepped towards Shinji. "I wanted to thank you..." she began.

"There's no need. I wanted to do it," Shinji interjected.

"Still," Rei said. "I should."

Shinji turned back to the view of the city. Rei moved forward another few steps, but stopped as he asked, "Is that the only reason you do things? Because you should?"

Rei had no response for that. Shinji turned back around to face her. They were only a step apart as he asked, "Like that time we were in the limo. Did you do that because you thought you should, or...

"...or because you wanted to?"

Rei said nothing, but stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Shinji's body. Shinji returned the embrace, still unsure of what Rei's actions meant. After a moment, Rei whispered in his ear, "I did it because I wanted to. I think... I think I always have."

For the next few moments, they did not speak.

But for once, it was because they did not need to.

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"Oh great, now there are _four _of them," Asuka groused.

"Stand up, class. Bow. Sit down," Hikari intoned.

Touji, Kensuke, Shinji, and Kaoru were now all seated together. For his first day of school, the fifth child had made an attempt to comb his hair. He had obtained mixed results, however, for half of it had stubbornly sprung back into its usual chaotic state the middle half. The sides of his head, however, were impeccably groomed.

"He looks like a used Q-tip," Asuka whispered to Hikari, who barely suppressed a giggle. Kaoru seemed to have heard, because he half-turned in his seat and glared at Asuka, until Shinji reminded him with a soft bat on the shoulder that he was supposed to face forward. The teacher, as usual, failed to notice the utter lack of discipline in his class and launched headlong into an achingly boring lecture about the Second Impact.

Shinji, Touji, and Kensuke immediately began trading messages on their desktop computers, paying no mind to the familiar lecture. Asuka and Hikari started to do the same, but Hikari stopped to stare at Touji, and Asuka's attention was caught Kaoru's strange behavior.

Strangely, he seemed to actually be paying attention to the aging man. Even more oddly, he was clearly disagreeing with what the old man was saying. He regularly shook his head as the teacher went over facts that everyone already knew. Kaoru only stopped making motions of disagreement when the teacher began talking about his personal experiences during the impact. He still shook his head from time to time, but his expression was more sad than displeased. Asuka decided to ask him about it later.

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"Ha! You should forget trying to control your hair," Touji said. "You look like an idiot."

"Oh really? I was not aware of that," Kaoru replied, glowering. "It just seemed a waste to give up after I went through the trouble of getting part of it combed."

"Why don't you go to the washroom and mess your hair up again? Then it might look better," Kensuke suggested. Kaoru shrugged and agreed, plodding off to the boys room while the others continued eating their lunch.

A loud giggling drew their attention to the spot where Hikari and Asuka were eating. The boys looked over, but the girls quickly turned their faces the other way. "What's that about, I wonder?" Touji mused aloud.

"Probably about those noodles you're eating," Shinji commented. Touji blushed, but overcame the embarrassment quickly. He purposefully shoved a clump of the food Hikari had given him into his mouth.

"Damn good noodles," he said, grinning and chewing at the same time.

"Oh that's awful," Kensuke replied, unwillingly treated to a view of the food in Touji's mouth. Shinji merely shook his head and looked to the ground.

He stiffened quickly when a small hand grasped his shoulder. "Whose calves are you admiring today?" Rei asked quietly. Touji nearly spat out his noodles. Kensuke blushed and looked miserable.

Shinji laughed nervously and replied, "Uh... n-nobody's. W-we were discussing H-Hikari's c-cooking."

"Oh yes," Rei said, "Asuka said something about that the other night. I guess Touji can't be caught 'admiring' me any more." Rei's calm, even voice made it unclear whether she was teasing or speaking in earnest.

Touji swallowed, and then his jaw dropped. He hastily got up and staggered off to the washroom, hoping to salvage some of his pride in the face of the suddenly verbose Rei.

"I'm still free!" Kensuke volunteered helpfully.

Rei eyed him curiously. "So you have found that boats make cold lovers?" she asked. Kensuke nearly fell off his chair. While he was trying to pull some kind of response together, Rei pulled gently on Shinji's arm and led him away from the table.

"What is it?" he asked when she had led him off to a corner of the room. They stood a step apart, facing each other.

"I... I don't want to... mislead you..."

"M... mislead me?"

"The other night, on the balcony..." she said.

"I don't... I don't understand."

"Neither do I," she replied, "These feelings are... new to me. I want to know them better before we... before I..." Her face became expressionless again as she trailed off.

"I... I see," Shinji said. He felt at once disappointed and relieved.

There was a long pause. Then Rei smiled and quietly said, "Thank you." She looked like she might say something else, but Kaoru chose that moment to approach them. His hair had been returned to its usual messy state. "You look better," Rei noted.

"Yes," he replied. "I suppose that I am not well suited for grooming."

"Then how are you ever going to get any girls?" Asuka asked. She had come up behind him, though no-one had noticed. Apparently, Hikari was now busy talking with Touji.

"Girls?" Kaoru asked.

"That's how it works," Asuka said. "You boys are supposed to chase after us girls, right? Don't you have your eye on someone?"

"Ah... no, I was not, err... looking," he said, taken aback by Asuka's direct questions.

Asuka was ready to shoot something back, but Hikari called the class to order. Asuka shrugged. "Maybe you should be," she replied as she breezed past him.

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The alarm had finally gotten to her. Misato slapped the cutoff switch and turned back to the screen. "I really don't like the looks of that one," she commented.

"The destruction reminds me of Leriel," Makoto said.

"But this is different. It has shape... and look at those stars," Maya replied. They all stared at the screens, which showed yet another giant angel striding towards Tokyo-3. Like Jophiel, it had the general shape of a man with wings. But the angel did not seem to have flesh instead it looked like a hole in space. Its surface was perfectly dark, and stars could be seen shining within. It had eyes glowing spheres of pure white but other than that the creature had no distinguishing features at all.

But every step that the creature took left a hole in the ground. It seemed that the surface of the angel was consuming a sizable portion of the matter that came into contact with it. Misato watched in horror as it swept one of its arms through a stand of trees, and the part of the arbor it passed through simply disappeared. The tops of the trees toppled to the ground, neatly severed from their roots.

"Analysis confirmed," Maya said. "The surface of the angel's body is a Sea of Dirac. I don't know how it creates one that contours to fit its shape, and I honestly have no idea what we should do about it," she admitted.

Gendo snorted, "It's a mystery, but he will give us the answer. That is Raziel's nature. He is the revealer of secrets."

"Well, let's start off simply, then," Misato said. "Kids, I want you to use the positron rifles again. Try to focus on a single point."

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Shinji tensed, ready to fire. He could glimpse Rei and Kaoru out of the corner of his eye, flanking the winged monster. Asuka had already run ahead and wide to get behind it. "I always have to be in front," he murmured. Then he added in a louder voice, "I say we shoot the head."

"Good enough for me," Asuka said.

"Might as well," Kaoru added.

"Okay, then let's do it. On three. One... two... three!"

The EVA units fired their positron rifles simultaneously at the creature's head. Raziel didn't even bother to react. The rays sank into his head and disappeared.

"Okay, so that didn't work," Shinji muttered. "Anyone else have an idea?"

He didn't get a chance to hear the response, because at that moment the archangel pointed at him. A huge ray emerged from Raziel's finger, as powerful as the four beams that had struck the creature combined. Shinji barely had time to duck and send his Eva rolling away from the blast of antimatter. He grunted as he jumped out of the roll.

Kaoru decided to take the initiative. Activating the wings of EVA-05, he jumped into flight, dropping his positron rifle and equipping his prog knife. "No Kaoru!" Misato shouted. "Don't touch him!"

But it was already two late. Kaoru plunged headlong and disappeared into the angel. "Kaoru!" Shinji shouted. EVA-01 kept its grip on the positron rifle, but also equipped its prog knife. The angel, however, raised its finger once again towards EVA-01, and Kaoru's Eva appeared upside-down just beyond it, flying at an immense speed. Shinji was too surprised to move out of the way. "Ouff!" he grunted as the two giants collided.

"Oh..." Kaoru groaned. "That was the wrong thing to do."

"Stupid jerk," Asuka muttered. Raziel turned to face her. She raised her rifle and fired it directly at one of the eyes.

"Don't!" Misato shouted, realizing that Asuka had not seen what happened to Shinji right after the last attack. But it was too late. The beam lanced into the creature's right eye and disappeared momentarily. It then emerged from the left eye, firing back at Asuka.

"Scheisse!" the girl yelled as the beam from Raziel came into contact with her rifle and destroyed it. She willed her Eva to leap nearly 20 meters back to avoid the last bit of the ray from the archangel. "Why didn't anyone warn me about _that_?" she shouted.

"I tried," Misato groaned. This battle was not going well at all. At least Shinji and Kaoru were back on their feet.

"Well, it is obvious that Raziel can take in and emit as much matter and antimatter as he likes," Kaoru noted.

"I wonder..." Rei said. EVA-00 knelt to scoop up a rock. With an expert throw, she sent it arcing through the air so that it rolled to a stop just as the archangel's foot came down on it. Raziel immediately whirled and pointed to Rei. The rock emerged from his hand, but it was not moving very fast, and it quickly fell to the ground.

"He does not seem to be able to add much velocity to objects that he takes in," Maya confirmed.

"He did well enough with me," Kaoru complained.

"His ability to accelerate emissions may be proportional to the initial velocity of the object," Maya suggested.

"That would explain why he hasn't fired any of the dirt or scenery he's taken in at us. Their relative velocity was too low," Asuka commented.

"So what if we did the same thing?" Shinji asked. EVA-01 moved in front of the archangel and stood resolutely in its way.

"No! Don't!" Misato shrieked.

"Not again," Asuka groaned.

"Ikari-kun..." Rei said.

"I won't run out of power this time," Shinji said. "If I use the S2 engine, there's no reason to worry."

"This is bad strategy. Fall back!" Misato ordered, but it was already too late. Raziel casually collided with EVA-01 and Shinji disappeared.

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Blinding light poured in from all the external views, making Shinji dizzy. He slapped a control to turn them off. "Too bright!" he moaned, rubbing his aching eyes.

Shinji quickly took stock of his situation. His attempt to enter the angel had apparently worked. Everything seemed fine except for the brightness outside. That, and the fact that the LCL felt odd thinner and warmer than usual. _Last time it was cold,_ Shinji remembered. He shivered involuntarily and shut his eyes for a moment to clear away the memory.

He was sorry when he opened them.

In those short seconds the entry plug had transformed. Where once it had been a metallic construction, it had now become organic. The walls were streaked with blood vessels, and pulsated with a constant rhythm. Gentle, diffuse light radiated through the tissues, having its brightest glow at the bottom. Shinji felt something brush against his leg, and realized that the transformation had gone even further. His plugsuit had disappeared and the "throne of the soul" had changed into a huge fleshy mass, with thousands of protrusions that wrapped themselves around his legs and abdomen, and waved in the currents of the LCL. Shinji tried to fight down his fear for a few moments, but eventually gave up and screamed in horror.

After he'd let it out, he gasped for a few seconds, then shook himself. _Come on, Shinji,_ he thought, _get a grip. You've got to destroy this thing, and screaming won't help._ He took a deep breath to steady himself and then tried to will the Eva to move. Shinji smiled as he felt the Eva's leg move. "Okay," he muttered, "It works. I've just got to kill this thing and get out of here, and everything will be fine."

Shinji looked to the bottom of the entry plug, towards the source of the strongest light. "It's as good a bet as any," he muttered. He tried to walk the Eva down towards the light, but found himself paradoxically drifting away. He flipped the Eva upside down, then tried to _swim_ towards the light, thinking that Raziel's interior might be liquid. That seemed to work better, although it was by no means a quick advance. He moved slowly towards the light.

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Kaoru charged the angel, jumping aside at the last minute. He nimbly dove between Raziel's arm and leg, somersaulting through the angel's assault. As he ran away from the confrontation, he checked over his shoulder to see the archangel's response. Raziel turned around momentarily and took a step after him, but quickly desisted and faced the city again. His progress resumed.

Kaoru skidded to a halt, panting heavily. Though he himself was not doing the running, he felt physically tired from all the exercise. "I hope Shinji pulls something off soon," he wheezed.

"So... do... I..." Asuka replied, still breathing heavily after several similar runs of her own. The three remaining pilots, unable to use any of their weapons against the alien invader, had engaged in a tactic of attempting to distract it. Hopefully, that would buy enough time for Shinji to kill the angel before it destroyed the city.

"There's not much time left," Rei noted. "Raziel is only three kilometers away from the city now."

"Does anyone have more suggestions?" Kaoru asked.

"I... I don't know," Maya whispered. "There's just not enough information to plan a course of action."

"I've got something," Misato said. "Kids, rearm your positron rifles. I doubt Raziel's capable of flight if his wings can only absorb air instead of pushing against it. Use your guns to create obstacles in front of him craters, trenches, anything you can think of."

"Good idea," Asuka said, "But I'd rather kill this thing with my own hands."

"Try that," Kaoru commented, grabbing his gun again, "and you might lose them."

"Watch your mouth, mop-head," Asuka replied. She pulled the trigger on her gun and began blasting away at the ground in front of Raziel's feet. "Or else you might lose something of your own," she added with a teasing smile.

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Eventually, the light became so strong that it was bright even when filtered through the biological walls surrounding him. Shinji decided that he would now flip on the external sensors and choose his attack point.

He then realized that he had no way to turn the sensors back on.

"Damn!" Shinji muttered as his hands fumbled through the jumbled organic protrusions that had been his entry plug. He once again felt a sense of rising panic, but managed to get a grip. "I'll just do a pattern sweep," he said. "I've got plenty of power to give my rifle."

Shinji began by pointing the rifle straight towards the apparent center of the light. He willed the Eva to fire the gun, and was rewarded by a momentary dimming of the light. But the damage was only temporary. He began to sweep the gun away from the center point: up, down, right, and left. But nothing happened except when he shot at the center. Still, the effects there did not last.

_This isn't working,_ he realized. He thought for a moment, then realized a way he could cut off the core from the rest of the angel without necessarily destroying it.

Once again Shinji willed his Eva to swim down towards the light. After several minutes, it bumped into something. By now, the light had permeated the entry plug, nearly blinding Shinji. He could even see the glow through his eyelids. Shinji squeezed his eyes shut and willed EVA-01 to grasp the source of the glare. Once he had it firmly in the Eva's arms, Shinji initiated an AT Field.

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Raziel stopped at the edge of Tokyo-3, just as Asuka finished blasting a new trench with her positron rifle. She tossed the empty gun aside and equipped her progressive knife. The last defense had been set, and like the other obstacles, it would do no more than slow the implacable foe they faced.

"I wish Shinji would do whatever was his bright idea to do," Asuka shouted as the angel carefully inspected the trench. Any moment, Asuka expected it to start walking again, striding over the tortured earth to fulfill its grim destiny. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw units 00 and 05 drop their own guns and draw their knives. "That jerk, why I ought to..." she began, but stopped in open-jawed shock as Raziel's head detonated, releasing a brilliant light.

Asuka had to shut her eyes momentarily, afraid she might be blinded. The image hung in her view even through her eyelids. As she sensed the light fading she looked again where Raziel had stood to see Shinji standing there, holding a glowing sphere that was rapidly growing smaller and dimmer. Within moments, it had disappeared entirely.

EVA-01 slumped for a moment, then drew itself back to its full height. Shinji looked around his entry plug in wonder. He was once more in his plugsuit, and the interior of the plug had returned to normal. "It must have been a hallucination," he murmured.

"Shinji, if you ever do that again..." Misato threatened. Shinji sighed and turned off the communicator.

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"You are troubled," Kaoru noted. The two boys had gone to Kaoru's apartment after debriefing. Shinji was curled up against the wall, resting his chin on his knees and staring pensively into space, trying to calm his frayed nerves. Kaoru was lying down on his bed, his worried gaze locked on his friend's face.

"Something happened while I was inside Raziel," Shinji replied. Kaoru's eyebrows knotted together in a quizzical expression, and he nodded for Shinji to continue. The blue-eyed boy sighed. "I've always known that the Evas were alive, but... after I entered the archangel, the entry plug turned into flesh, and I was naked in it. I... I'm sure it was just an hallucination, but... it seemed so very real," he explained.

Kaoru's frown deepened and his head settled down on his pillow. He rubbed at his temples. "I don't know," he said. "I saw something when I was in it, too... a brief image, fleeting, but..." He trailed off, his brow furrowed.

"The picture you were drawing earlier, outside the debriefing room. Was that it?"

Kaoru closed his eyes and nodded. "I cannot place it," he said, "But I feel... that the image represents something very important."

"Can... can I see?" Shinji asked.

Kaoru nodded again, slowly rising from his position on the bed to open his knapsack. After a moment of digging, he pulled out a single, folded sheet of paper. Tiny white shreds still clung to the edges, a sign that the sheet had at one point been ripped from a ringed notebook. Shinji took the page and knelt as he unfolded it. The faint blue lines crossing the paper did not interfere with the clean lines of the picture Kaoru had drawn. The fallen angel had rare artistic skill the face that peered out of the torn page looked almost real enough to touch.

As he stared at that image, Shinji felt a pang of emptiness in his chest. His hands began to tremble so violently he almost ripped the paper in two. After a moment, he let the sheet drop to the floor, but he continued to stare at it, too shaken to even cry. More than ten years had passed since he had last seen the face that peered so realistically out at him from the page, but still Shinji knew it. Ten years and more had gone, but still it haunted his dreams.

Kaoru had drawn a picture of Ikari Yui.

�

�


	7. NGE: AOTF 06

**NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: ASCENT OF THE FALLEN**

**Part Six:**

By Sparky Clarkson

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Kaoru sighed softly in relief as he gently lowered Shinji onto the bed. He knew from the younger boy's slow, regular breathing that he had at last fallen asleep. Kaoru had quickly put the picture he had drawn of Yui away when he saw Shinji's severe reaction. Badly shaken, Shinji had been unable to explain his response for some time, shivering silently in Kaoru's comforting embrace for at least ten minutes. When Shinji had at last calmed down enough to speak, the discussion had been cut short by his exhaustion. The emotionally harrowing events of the day had drained Shinji completely, and he slipped into fitful doze after a quick explanation. Several more minutes had passed, however, before sleep had truly claimed him.

Shinji stirred slightly as his head touched the pillow, and he moaned softly. Kaoru leaned down and whispered, "I will be back soon this will only take a minute." Shinji nodded, muttering something incomprehensible, and snuggled down into the bedding.

Kaoru walked over to one corner of the room and sat down cross-legged. He lowered his head for a moment, then lifted it to look at the ceiling. "Father, I have not spoken to you in some time..." he said quietly, then paused. It felt so strange to address the Father in this way. Before, it had been a wordless communion, a joining of minds that transcended mere conversation. Every concept or feeling was shared exactly, not obscured by imprecise words. By comparison, speech seemed hopelessly inadequate.

Kaoru sighed. "I suppose that I am not really used to being human," he said. "I still miss my old life, when I knew your will instantly and clearly. My brothers and I often marveled at mankind's ignorance, wondering how humans could miss what to us was so plain. Yet now I flounder helplessly, and I wonder how your will ever could have been so obvious to me. That, I suppose, is what it is to be human one step removed from your grace. I have to pay this price for my decision."

He glanced at Shinji, sleeping quietly over on the bed, and smiled. "Still," he continued, "I do not regret my choice. I wonder sometimes whether what I feel for Shinji is what you feel for all humans. I so desperately want to shield him and protect him... but I know that unless he finds his own way, he will never be truly happy. I cannot take that away from him.

"He does not need to feel this pain, though. The old wound of his mother's death has never healed... and today's events have only served to reopen it. Her face... I would not have expected it to have such an effect. Then again, when I looked at it, I felt something familiar...

"Help me, Father. I know Raziel gave us these messages intentionally. I know they have some meaning beyond themselves, but... I am so confused. I sense an important glimmer of truth, but it is wrapped in a shroud of mystery that my mind cannot penetrate. Please, Father, give me the wisdom to find the answers, so that I can help heal the wounds in Shinji's heart."

Kaoru took a deep breath and closed his eyes. After several moments, he shook his head and chuckled grimly. _How silly of me_, he thought, _I must be more human than I think, if I am actually becoming impatient. I should know better, yet here I sit, as if Father were about send me the answers written across the night sky in giant letters of fire._ He chuckled again, then unfolded his legs.

As he slowly stood, the phone rang, jarring the peaceful stillness of the apartment. Kaoru leaped at and grabbed it before it could wake Shinji. He took a breath to calm himself before he lifted the handset to his mouth and greeted the caller.

"Is he there?" Misato asked.

"Er... who?" Kaoru asked in reply.

"Don't play dumb with me, boy. I want to know if Shinji's there," she snapped at him.

Kaoru shrugged, trying to quell his rising annoyance. "Yes, he is here. He is sleeping," he replied.

"Sleeping?"

Kaoru sublimated a growl as he responded, "Yes. That is what people do at night, is it not?"

"Well, wake him up. I want him to come home and get to bed."

Kaoru blinked several times, and it seemed that as his eyes fluttered his grip on his temper weakened. "Might I repeat that for clarification, please?" he asked. Not waiting for an answer, he pressed forward. "You want me to wake Shinji up, interrupting his sleep, so that he can take a half-hour ride on the trains through the city... so he can go home and go to sleep?"

"Yes!" Misato yelled, then paused. Perhaps she realized how silly she sounded, but Kaoru knew her distrust of him would win out. "I'm his guardian, and I have the right to decide for him," she added, a little more tentatively.

Kaoru fought to keep from shouting after all, he didn't want to wake Shinji up. "Major Katsuragi," he growled through gritted teeth, "Shinji has had a very hard day, and he is completely exhausted. Maybe that does not matter to you, but I certainly am not going to wake him up so he can sleepwalk through the city to satisfy some whim of yours. is totally exhausted. He has had a hard day, and he is completely drained. If that is what you want, then you can come here and wake him up your own damn self!" He slammed the phone back down before Misato could reply, then quickly checked to make sure that the conversation had not awakened his friend.

Satisfied that Shinji had not been disturbed, Kaoru stood up and walked over to his dresser. He ripped off his socks and shirt, the almost violent actions serving to dissipate some of his anger. He paused, realizing how silly he must look, then continued undressing and changing into his nightclothes at a more leisurely pace. Kaoru flipped the light off, then lay down on the bed next to his friend.

Shinji apparently sensed Kaoru's arrival, because he groaned and half rolled over. Kaoru reached out and helped his friend complete the motion. The result was that they were very close, and very entangled. One of Kaoru's arms supported Shinji's neck, and the other was pressed against his back. Shinji had thrown one arm around his friend, and bent the other beneath him. The two boys were facing each other nose-to-nose on a single pillow.

As Kaoru gazed at Shinji's peaceful face, he felt the last of the tension in his body slipping away. The heat of Shinji's body against his was creating an equal warmth in Kaoru's chest a pleasant tightness that reminded him of that first night.

_Kaoru smiled gently at the boy lying on the floor. He sighed and said, "I might have been born to meet you."_

_Shinji stared back at him inquisitively for a moment, then asked, "Kaoru-kun, why do you say such things?"_

_"What do you mean?"_

_"Well... what you told me when we were in the bath today, and just now. Nobody has ever told me things like that before. Why do you?"_

_Kaoru propped his head up on one elbow. He said, "In my life, Shinji, I have seen many people, and I have cared about many people. Some of them have cared for me. Yet I have never felt so strongly for any person as I do for you. I do not know how I came to feel such a powerful emotion so quickly, I only know that I saw your heart and loved it. So I think it must have been destined." He smirked at the irony in those words a cruel twist only he could know._

_Shinji seemed to digest this for a moment. Then he replied, "Does it feel like... a part of you that was missing has come back into place? Like you're complete enough to say and do things you never would with anyone else?"_

_Kaoru nodded slowly. "Yes."_

_"Then... I... I think I love you, too," Shinji said, his voice wavering. His eyes glistened with extra moisture, some of which spilled and rolled down his cheek. Kaoru reached down and brushed the tear off Shinji's cheek, and Shinji grabbed it, holding the palm against his face._

_Kaoru saw the need, the unasked question glistening in Shinji's tear-filled eyes. He gently kicked away his sheets, then levered himself down to the floor with his free arm. He pulled Shinji close, drawing him into a firm, but gentle embrace. Shinji returned the hug fiercely for a moment, then relaxed just as the single tear turned into a torrent._

_You carry so much pain and guilt that is not yours_, Kaoru thought, remembering the things Shinji tearfully told him that night. Slowly, gently, he pressed his lips against Shinji's forehead. "I love you, Shinji," he whispered, then pulled back slightly. As his eyes drifted shut, he thought, Father, please help me protect him.

He had hoped to at least have some pleasant visions in his slumber. But all that night he kept having the same dream: the single, static image of Ikari Yui.

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"You know, you probably made her really angry," Shinji said as the four boys ate their lunch at school the next day. "I bet she'll have some choice words for you when we go to headquarters later."

"Let her yell," Kaoru said. "You were tired and she was being arbitrary. There was no reason for you to have to get up and hike across the city just because she does not like my origins."

"Aw, that's sweet," Touji said mockingly.

Kaoru just smiled at the fourth qualifier. "I thought so, too," he said. Touji almost responded, but was prevented from speaking by the arrival of his lunch.

"These are for you, Touji-kun," Hikari said, handing the boy a small box. "It's a little less than usual, 'cause Asuka stayed at my place last night and I made her lunch, too."

Asuka, who had walked up with Hikari, smirked at Shinji and said, "Bet you were glad to be off the hook."

"Hm? Oh, no, I wasn't home last night either."

"He was at Kaoru's," Kensuke volunteered helpfully.

Asuka shook her head, saying, "I should have known. You didn't come home for dinner, which was perfectly understandable given that it was Misato's night to cook. Where else would you go?" After a moment she added, "So what did you boys do?"

"We just had to... talk," Shinji said. "We both saw some pretty strange things inside that angel."

"Oh? Like what? You didn't tell me," Asuka said.

"I... I can't really... it's too weird."

"Well, how about you, Kaoru?" Asuka asked. "Or can you guys only talk things like this over with soulmates?" Shinji blushed a bit.

Kaoru eyed her nonchalantly. "I saw the image of his dead mother," he said coolly. The group fell silent. Dead mothers were not the best topic to discuss among these children. Several moments passed without a word.

"I'm sorry," Asuka said at last. "I shouldn't have pried."

Shinji quickly defused the tension. "I thought apologizing was my reflex action," he replied.

Asuka laughed, then said, "Shut up, you jerk."

"Ah, now that is more familiar," Kaoru said, "Though not necessarily more welcome."

"Sorry," Shinji replied. Touji glared and took a mock swing at him.

"Don't you dare!" Hikari said. Touji stopped halfway through the pantomime, confused. "Use that good arm for eating those noodles I made you! Honestly! How ungrateful can you be?" From her smile, it was obvious that she was teasing, but Touji scrambled up and started to apologize anyway. In doing so he accidentally knocked over Kensuke's cup with his artificial arm. The tea in it spilled all over the military maniac.

Kensuke swore and started to make an almost hopeless effort to wring out his shirt. The other children began to laugh, and the awkwardness of a moment before was forgotten.

But Shinji and Kaoru shared a glance which indicated that its cause had not.

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"Misato, don't be mad with Kaoru, please?"

Misato looked at the boy in his plugsuit and responded, "Why would I be mad at him?"

"He said you were pretty angry when he wouldn't wake me up last night," Shinji replied, somewhat confused.

"What? Oh! I remember," Misato said, turning back to her console in the command station. The other members of the command crew were watching a surface exercise by Asuka and Rei, a coordinated attack on a slow-moving target. "I was just a little irritated because of some stuff at work that had gotten piled up, and because you hadn't called me," she explained. "Much as I hate to admit it, he was right. There was no need for you to get up. I hope you slept well?"

Shinji nodded, with a slight blush creeping into his face.

"Yeah, well in a way it was kind of welcome," Misato said. "With Asuka out of the apartment too, I got a chance to relax and blow off some steam."

Makoto suddenly had a coughing fit. Misato turned to look for a second, winked at Shinji, then returned her attention to the console. Asuka and Rei fired in tandem on the small target, both hitting it easily.

"Why are they the only ones doing this exercise?" Shinji asked.

"Commander Ikari decided that we should have a repertoire of tactics available for fighting the angels," Misato said. "So, to maximize combat options, you'll be trained in pairs for various tandem attack patterns. These first few days, only Asuka and Rei are going to be doing surface exercises. Since they've had the most problems cooperating in the past, we want to focus a lot of attention on them. In a few days, we'll put you and Rei on the surface for one set of exercises while Asuka and Kaoru are training at another surface location. Then you boys will switch partners. The last few days it will just be you and Kaoru on the surface, because we want to concentrate on some special patterns based on the abilities of your S2 engines."

"Oh," Shinji said unhappily, "that sounds like a lot of training."

"Yeah. I'm sorry, but you're going to have to miss school for the next two weeks," Misato said. "I can't imagine how you kids manage to learn anything, missing as much school as you do."

"As boring as that teacher is, I can't believe we learn anything when we're _in_ school," Asuka said over the radio. "That pattern was easy," she added, changing the subject. "You got something harder?"

Misato snorted. "You bet," she said, dismissing Shinji with a wave of her hand.

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Even computers as advanced as the Magi were not omniscient. They required a huge network of remote information-gathering stations that apprised them of the world's condition. The weakness of this system was that those stations had to communicate with the Magi. Some transmitted their data via microwave relay, but most used hard lines. And those hard lines could be tapped.

The triple redundancy of NERV's supercomputer had a further expression in that each of the Magi was linked to the outside world by three main bundles of cables, which fanned out into the massive networks from subsidiary mainframes located in various stations just outside Tokyo-3. Each of these nine bundles was encased in a heavily-shielded titanium sheath meant to make it all but impossible to physically contact the cables. The Magi themselves predicted only a 0.001 chance that anyone could access them.

Of course, Ritsuko had beaten worse odds than that before. She sighed as she maneuvered herself around to the right cable. She wanted a particular one in the bundle that came in from an unusually noisy monitoring station in old Tokyo. Each cable had a serial number printed at various intervals on its plastic sheath, but they did not coincide exactly. She had to shift several meters up and down the bundle until she found the right one. "Here we go," she whispered, smiling as she coaxed the single line out of the bundle. She slipped a removable splicer onto it, then linked it to a small laptop.

She pulled herself up from underneath the bundle and lay down on top of it. The metal sheath surrounding the coiled cords left little room for movement, but she somehow managed to maneuver herself so that she faced her laptop. She reached out and began to type, but paused to push a few strands of blond hair out of her face. Halfway through the motion, she stopped, staring at the yellowed hair in her fingers.

After a moment, she turned back to the computer. She hit a few keys, and started a program that subtly inserted a new signal into the continuous flow of data from old Tokyo. "Well, mom," she whispered, "Let's see if we can reach some agreement..."

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Evening was always the most pleasant time in the apartment building. In the morning, the hurried footfalls of businessmen and laborers on their way to work brought a busy tension to the halls, and during most of the day the building was vacant as people went about their daily duties. In the evening, though, the residency was once again full of life, moving at a relaxed pace. Giggling children played in the atrium as their parents looked on over books or newspapers. The sounds of TV stations or low music filtered out into the hallways, wafting along on the same air currents that carried the tantalizing aromas of sizzling dinners.

In any relaxing situation, however, Misato could induce at least some kind of tension. She rushed along, burdened with an over-full bag of groceries, trying to avoid bowling over any of the other tenants in her journey towards her apartment. _Just my luck,_ she thought, spinning to avoid a squealing boy who came hurtling down the hall towards her, chased by a girl of about the same age, _The one night I insist on doing dinner out of turn, we're out of instant food._

A week in the intensive training program that Gendo designed had severely worn the children down. Even the usually ebullient Asuka had spent the last few days wandering around like a zombie. Then this morning, Shinji had almost fallen onto the hot stove while making breakfast. Misato decided that the pilots needed as many breaks as they could get. She spent the morning wheedling half a day's rest out of the commander, then brought all the children over to her apartment to relax. The children had napped, watched movies, or played quiet games while she waited on them as best she could. Misato meant to take over all the chores for the day, but just as she started to prepare dinner she discovered that the apartment's store of ready-made meals had finally run out.

Misato had hoped to grab new supplies and get back to the apartment with time to spare before supper. That plan, however, had quickly been ruined by a series of traffic jams. Half the people of Tokyo 3 at this point were recent immigrants, flowing into town to support the new headquarters of the UN. Naturally, none of these newcomers knew how to deal with the carefully planned traffic patterns.

"They've probably given up and let Shinji start dinner," she mumbled to herself in aggravation as she came to the apartment door. She fumbled for her keycard, swiped it through, and entered without even calling out the customary greeting. As she started to kick off her shoes, she heard Shinji shouting from the living room.

"Dammit, Kaoru! Stop! Stop! Help!" he cried, the last word trailing off pitifully.

Misato's worried mind kicked into overdrive, leaping to a quick conclusion that the fallen angel had at last betrayed them all. She calculated just how long it would take her to reach the gun secreted in a compartment underneath the coffee table, disengage the safety, and fire a few desperate shots at Kaoru. Even as her mind did that, her arms dropped the groceries and she sprang forward into the main room.

Kaoru was sitting on top of Shinji, who was giggling hysterically, red-faced and teary-eyed from laughing so hard. The grey-haired boy's long fingers were moving up and down Shinji's ribs, despite the young Ikari's attempts to stop this by clamping down on the hands with his arms. Kaoru desisted as Misato entered. Misato thought she heard Shinji sigh, "Whew! Saved!"

"Major Katsuragi!" Kaoru said, his eyes wide with surprise. "Did you know that Shinji is ticklish?"

Misato shook her head at her own paranoia. _This job really __**is**__ getting to me,_ she thought, looking at the innocent grey-haired boy, _Maybe Asuka was right, for once. I should give him more of a chance._ She smirked and asked, "Is he really?"

"Oh no!" Shinji cried as Misato advanced on the prone boy and his friend. Shinji tried to curl up in a ball, but without much success, since Kaoru was still getting in his way. The defenseless blue-eyed boy began to contort convulsively when Misato started to help Kaoru by running her fingers along his ribs also.

Asuka stuck her head out of her room to see the cause of the noise, and immediately shook it in disbelief. "Ticklish?" she asked incredulously. "I can't imagine what led to that discovery."

"Isn't that... cute, though?" Rei asked from within. Her face glowed with a small, gentle smile.

Asuka thought a moment, shrugged, and said, "Yeah. I guess it is. But still ticklish? He's such a child."

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Ritsuko stowed the tiny vacuum back in its spot in her closet, on top of the hanger rack. She slid the door closed, then walked back into the kitchenette, looking carefully for any spots she might have missed. Satisfied that there were none, she put a pot of water on the stove to boil and got a packet of instant soup out of the cupboard.

The cramped kitchenette matched the size of the rest of the apartment. After she had placed the splicer on the cable, Ritsuko had set up remote hardware so that she could access the Magi without going to the underground cables. The JIA had decided therefore that she should be put in this tiny apartment, buried somewhere in a suburb not too far from Tokyo-3. Though it was adequate, Ritsuko couldn't remember living in a place this small since she had been in college.

She smiled as she stirred the contents of the instant soup packet into the warming water. Her eating habits had also come to mimic those she had back in college. Much as she liked a fresh meal, the JIA wouldn't allow her to leave the apartment the risk of discovery was too great. So she had to live off whatever they brought her.

Satisfied that the soup was ready to simmer, she covered it and headed to the bathroom to survey her handiwork. The hand-mirror she had been using gave her some idea, but she wanted a clearer picture. She flipped on the fluorescent light and looked into the mirror over the sink.

She winced, thinking, _I must admit, I've had better than this before. It's not as bad as it could be,_ though. She'd already been behind on dyeing her hair, and the addition of several weeks had meant her brown roots had grown out considerably. So her scalp still had a very short covering of hair. Ritsuko ran her hands through her new cut, relishing the feel of hair untouched by harsh coloring chemicals. Sure, it might not be the best-looking haircut she ever had, but she took a grim satisfaction in knowing that every single blond strand was gone forever.

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"Okay boys, that's enough. You're done," Misato announced.

Shinji relaxed slightly in his entry plug. "Done for today?" he asked.

"No, that's the last pattern, period. You've learned all we want you to for now," Misato replied cheerfully.

Shinji relaxed even more, and allowed his eyes to close. Two long weeks of surface exercises had completely exhausted him, despite Misato's efforts to make life easier. "I thought we'd never be done," he mumbled.

"It did seem to drag on, did it not?" Kaoru sighed. EVA-05 stood about 200 meters from Unit 01, lowering the positron rifle it had just used to shoot the tiny, plus-sign-shaped target they had just executed an attack pattern against.

The cross had levitated, moving erratically along a canyon at high speed. Kaoru and Shinji's task had been to hit the target simultaneously from different positions. The exercise had gone on for hours, as Gendo had continually adjusted the parameters. The cross rested a few meters away, its silvery surface pitted and scorched from the multiple hits it had taken.

"Well, you kids have earned a bit of a treat," Misato said. "Tomorrow night, Vice-Commander Fuyutsuki will be taking you all out to dinner."

"That should be interesting," Kaoru said. "I have had less time to converse with Fuyutsuki-san than I would like."

"Yeah, and I'll be glad to eat something other than instant food," Shinji mumbled, his eyes still closed. He willed EVA-01 to begin walking back towards the city. "I appreciate your giving us a break, Misato," he added, "but instant noodles are beginning to give me indigestion."

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Misato chuckled softly, smiling despite the mild insult. She had honestly tried to make her cooking more tolerable, but she knew she would never pass as a chef. She also knew that Shinji had been suffering, despite her best efforts. He'd said nothing up until now, but she had noticed a sharp decrease in her supply of antacids. The end of the exercises would be a relief for everyone.

Asuka and Rei had already managed to mostly get back to normal, since they'd been done with the exercises for four days. The boys, on the other hand, had continued to train. Perversely, their exercises during the final few days had been the most strenuous of all that the pilots had undergone. The results had gotten her very concerned. Shinji was on the verge of coming apart at the seams. Kaoru, though generally more upbeat than his friend, had also become quite ragged. Misato had practically had to carry the two of them into work today: Gendo had kept them working late into the night the previous evening, and demanded that they return before dawn. Misato wondered briefly whether he'd done so just to be cruel.

Her reverie was interrupted when Shigeru called to her from his station. "Major Katsuragi, you need to look at this," he said, staring intently at his display. Misato quickly checked her own console. The two Evas were almost back to the exit routes, and proceeding normally, so that couldn't be the source of the problem. She stood up and walked over to Shigeru's station, immediately noticing the disturbing waveform his monitor was displaying.

"The radiation is too diffuse to localize right now," Shigeru said, "but there's no mistaking it."

"Waves coming in more strongly," Maya announced. "Pattern is..." she trailed off. Quietly she continued, "Pattern is blue."

Misato whirled back towards her station, silently cursing her bad luck. "Shinji, Kaoru, wait a minute. I'm afraid you guys can't come back in just yet," Misato said into the radio, then turned to Makoto. "Get the girls back here immediately."

"What's going on?" Shinji asked. His voice sounded tired and resigned.

"We've detected something that might be an angel. We're trying to localize it now," Misato replied. Shinji said nothing in response.

"Major, we're getting better resolution on the sonic detectors," Shigeru called. Misato turned to look.

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Back in the canyon, the cross once again levitated. But this time, it did not begin the type of erratic flight pattern that had been programmed into it. Instead, it hung motionless over the floor of the gorge, and began to hum loudly. The black scorching fell away, revealing the smooth, silver surface the cross originally possessed.

For a moment, nothing further happened, and then the device began to shift form, changing shape even as it grew larger. Wings, limbs, and a head sculpted themselves out of the original components of the cross, quickly developing into a titanic figure horrifyingly familiar to the people of NERV. The silver-skinned giant spread its argent wings as the hum began to crescendo. Some rock outcroppings shuddered and crumbled in the face of the strong vibrations, tumbling down into the bottom of the gorge.

The silver angel smiled, and opened its mouth. A thunderous cry erupted from within the winged titan, a tsunami of sound that flattened all the trees in the canyon, and caused even more of the walls to fall away. As the echoes of the call dissipated, the archangel spread its wings and launched itself into the air.

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"Boys, the angel has appeared in the canyon where you were doing exercises earlier," Misato said.

Shinji slumped. His exhaustion and frustration threatened to bring him to tears. "I can't..." he mumbled softly.

"Shinji, we must," Kaoru said to him. The words said little, but the soothing sound of Kaoru's voice lent Shinji some extra strength. He had a duty, after all.

"Boys, I want you to wait as long as possible. We'll send Rei and Asuka up to you as soon as we can," Misato ordered. "Try and take some cover, though. The angel is moving as though it knows where you are. Arm your positron rifles."

"Do you really think the rifles are going to work this time?" Kaoru asked.

"Hey, somebody once said, 'Strong hope is a much greater motivator of life than a single realized joy could ever be,'" Misato replied, proud she'd remembered the obscure quotation.

"That was Nietzsche. He also said, 'God is dead,'" Kaoru replied.

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"Any word on the girls?" Misato asked, shaking her head.

Makoto looked up from his console and reported, "We reached Rei on her portable phone, but we've had no luck with Asuka. Some little girl keeps answering it, and we can't get her to understand what we want." He gnawed nervously on his lower lip as he turned back to the console.

"What?" Misato asked. Something about that tugged at one of her mental channels. She remembered calling for Asuka once at some place, and getting a little girl... "Horaki-san's!" Misato shouted in realization. "Send a team over to the Horaki household immediately, and try to get them on any telephones in the house."

"Do we have visuals yet on the angel?" Fuyutsuki asked calmly.

"Yes sir," Shigeru said. He rapidly typed in a series of commands and a few of the large screens began to display various perspectives of the winged silver giant. One temporarily showed the angel looking straight at it with an open mouth for a second before it went static. The other shots showed the destruction of the helicopter that had been hovering with that particular camera. Auxiliary data began to pop up on the remaining screens.

"That weapon was sonic in nature, but, it's so broad band..." Maya began.

"Break it down, then report," Fuyutsuki ordered. After a pause, he continued, "I wonder what that is."

"It is Gabriel the Messenger, second highest among the angels," Gendo commented as he entered the command center, his eyes placid behind the ever-present orange lenses.

"Well, it seems he's doing a good job delivering whatever it is he was sent to bring," Misato noted.

"I have a preliminary analysis of the sound pattern. It contains a strange series of constructive harmonics. It starts off at the level of suprasonic vibrations, then descends through a series of pitches to a subsonic level. But all the wavelengths produce constructive interference," Maya said.

Misato nodded. "So the vibrations become intense enough to shatter anything. Great," she muttered. "Do we have any kind of protection available that might counter the weapon?"

"We have some absorbent armor that was developed to deal with certain heat situations after the deal with Sandalphon," Maya said. "It has a layer that due to its design can trap sound as well as infrared rays. But it's too unwieldy to be used in surface combat."

"Damn. Then our only recourse is a distance attack."

"Our only hope, Major?" Gendo asked.

Misato bit her tongue.

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"You want us to fire at what?" Shinji asked.

"We believe it most likely that the angel's core is located in his voicebox," Misato replied. "When the girls get here, I want you to run dual attack patterns alpha-3 and fire at his larynx."

"And what if he gets here before they do?"

"Then I want you guys to run the very last pattern you tried out today: omega-7," Misato answered.

"Very well, Major Katsuragi," Kaoru said. His Eva was "hidden" behind a low clump of trees. Shinji's crouched 50 meters away behind a large boulder.

"Please, Kaoru, call me Misato."

"As you wish, Ma... Misato."

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"Um, Major, we have a problem," Shigeru said.

"What!" Misato snapped. This was not going well. She definitely didn't want the two exhausted boys to try and face the angel by themselves.

"The angel's airborne velocity has exceeded the Magi's predictions I guess the monster was holding back earlier. It will reach the location of Eva units 01 and 05 in approximately three minutes," Shigeru explained.

"What about the girls?"

"Team A has picked Rei up and will be here in a few moments. Team B has just now reached Horaki-san's... good news! Asuka's there. They're coming back as soon as they can get going."

"Tell them to speed! This is an emergency!"

"Major, you realize that there is not enough time for the first and second children to get into their Evas before Gabriel arrives," Gendo said.

"I know," Misato growled. "Boys, the angel is coming faster than we expected. You'll be on your own for a while. I want you to get ready for pattern omega-7."

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Shinji caught his first glimpse of the angel over the boulder as it touched down. The massive winged man did not stop, but slowed down to a more cautious pace as he approached the Evas' positions. Shinji tensed for a moment, gathering what strength he had left after weeks of exhausting training, and sprang out from behind the boulder. A short distance to his right, Kaoru also emerged from his hiding spot. Gabriel did not immediately respond to their appearance. Of course, it was possible that it had known of them all along.

The boys began to execute their planned attack pattern. Shinji swung out to the right, while Kaoru patiently wove across the archangel's line of attack to distract it. Not that the archangel seemed to be distracted by anything they did. It simply marched forward.

Shinji suddenly veered sharply to the left, crossing the angel's line of attack, then diving into a roll parallel to the line. Kaoru had swung out to the right, and leaped up in the air, firing at Gabriel's larynx just as Shinji sprang out of the roll and fired at the same spot.

The two rays collided with a powerful AT field, fizzled and died.

"Hubris," Kaoru muttered in disgust as he willed his Eva to toss aside its positron rifle. He equipped his progressive knife, and Shinji followed suit.

"What?" Misato said.

"Hubris. It is a Greek word meaning excessive pride. Mankind has it in plenty particularly when it believes its weapons can penetrate the light of an archangel's mind."

"Do you have another idea, Misato?" Shinji asked.

"Execute the first pattern you did today. Omega-6 is designed for knife work."

"Okay," Shinji replied. He remembered the drill he and Kaoru had spent four hours perfecting the hand-to-hand attack against the cross-shaped target in the canyon that morning. EVA-01 ran forward, heading a bit left of the line of the angel's approach to try and swing around behind.

Shinji tried to keep his full attention on the archangel. Gabriel still hadn't reacted to the Evas' activities, but Shinji could feel those featureless eyes watching him. He found it hard to keep his concentration, however, because of a strange hum he kept hearing.

Kaoru, meanwhile, began juking left and right across Gabriel's line of approach. He started off with his Eva fully upright, but as the angel got closer, he lowered his center of gravity. Finally he started pulling off more to the right. Then, when Gabriel was 50 meters away, he sprang forward, using the immensely powerful legs of his Eva. At the same moment, Shinji launched himself from the exact opposite direction.

This time, however, Gabriel reacted. It turned its head towards Kaoru, opening its mouth and leaping backwards as it did so. The huge harmonic sound that emerged from Gabriel's throat had so much force that it arrested EVA-05's forward progress and dropped it to the earth. Kaoru grunted as his unit fell.

Attack pattern omega-6 had been designed to deal with the simple tactic of jumping backwards, but as Shinji corrected for the angel's move, Gabriel turned its powerful voice on EVA-01. Unfortunately, his unit was much closer than Kaoru's was when the voice hit it. The bone structure in EVA-01's right shoulder shattered immediately. That problem was only aggravated by the fact that the same shoulder bore the brunt of the impact when EVA-01 crashed to the ground.

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"Shinji! Are you okay?" Misato asked.

The boy whimpered a bit, but managed to grunt out, "I'm... I'll make it."

"Kaoru?"

"I am up, Misato. Should I withdraw, or attack?"

"Try to cover Shinji's retreat," Misato ordered. She watched on the screen as Kaoru crossed over to stand in front of his friend while EVA-01 struggled to its feet. Gabriel, standing in place since their aborted attack, did not react. "Where are the girls?" she asked desperately.

"Rei is being inserted now. Asuka has just arrived," Makoto reported, then swore explosively. "Damn! What the hell...?"

Misato refocused her eyes on the screens, then shouted, "Kaoru!"

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As EVA-01 finally stood, Gabriel decided to act. It unleashed another sonic blast directly at the chest of EVA-05, a blast so powerful its vibrations could actually be seen in the air. The armor and bone structures in the torso of EVA-05 all snapped explosively. Kaoru screamed, but his exclamation was cut short as he coughed up a thin trickle of blood.

Shinji saw EVA-05's torso buckle, and he took immediate action. He snatched up his progressive knife in his left hand, and muttered "Sorry, Kaoru-kun," as he leaped up, then catapulted off EVA-05's shoulders and into the air. Gabriel, still unleashing its force on the white Eva unit, didn't manage to react before EVA-01 crashed down on top of it.

Gabriel fell to the ground with an earth-shaking boom when the purple giant collided with it. EVA-05 also slumped to the ground, somewhat more gently. EVA-01 was thrown clear by the fall, but somersaulted and came up on its feet. It immediately reversed its direction, leaping back on top of the archangel before it could get to its feet.

Gabriel had stopped its sonic attack when it fell, but it did not need that special power in this situation. The archangel grabbed hold of EVA-01's shattered right shoulder, almost causing Shinji to faint. Gabriel then whipped its arm forward, sending the Eva flying in a graceless arc through the air—an arc that ended with a sickening thud.

Dazed and in a haze of pain, Shinji acted on reflex. His Eva rolled out of its crash and sprung back at the archangel before it had time to react. Gabriel had managed to stand, but the unexpected impact of EVA-01 again knocked the archangel to the ground. With a roar, the Eva pushed its knife against the larynx of the mighty angel.

Gabriel opened its mouth as the knife began to puncture the surface of its skin, unleashing the most massive auditory blast yet. The maxillary structure of EVA-01 shattered instantly, followed by the rest of the skull. Still, the Eva grinned evilly as it pressed harder. The sonic wave intensified, and swept down the whole body of EVA-01.

But Gabriel had miscalculated. In its berserker rage, EVA-01 would not allow the attack to fail. Shinji's last semi-conscious act was to curl the rubbery body of his Eva around the progressive knife, bringing all the weight of the massive creature to bear on the weapon. With a ripping sound, the knife plunged into the angel's throat.

With a final clarion call, Gabriel evaporated.

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"Sever the neural link _now_!" Misato shouted. "Emergency medical crews to the scene immediately!"

Maya frantically worked the controls at her station, keeping up a running commentary as she attempted to bring all the life-sustaining capabilities of the Evas and the plugsuits to bear on the two boys. "Shinji's blood pressure is falling rapidly, and his temperature is increasing. Massive vascular injury increase pressure jacket inside of the plugsuit... where are the rescue crews? We need them in the hospital immediately!" she shouted, desperation creeping into her voice.

Kaoru's face appeared on one of the screens in the command center. His lips, rather than their usual pallor, were red with blood that he had coughed up. His Eva had already healed its wounds, but his body still bore the signs of the battle. "How's Shinji?" he asked weakly. His eyes looked dull and somewhat glazed, their mahogany color made flat by his weakness.

"Don't worry about him for now. Your stats show you've got several internal wounds in your lungs and abdomen. I want you to eject and wait for the medical crews. They'll be there in a moment," Misato ordered.

Kaoru nodded, his expression glum. The screen went blank as his entry plug emerged from the body of his Eva.

"Girls, stand down," Misato said as Evas 00 and 02 were about to reach the catapults. "Sortie canceled."

"What happened?" Asuka asked.

"The boys won," Misato said, "But they're both wounded."

"How... how is Shinji?" Rei asked quietly.

"And Kaoru... how's he?" Asuka added.

"It's too early to tell with either of them," Misato lied. She watched the monitors as the girls' Evas were returned to their cages. Then, unable to bear the sight any longer, she switched off the screen showing the interior of Shinji's entry plug.

A screen which showed the battered child bleeding into the LCL.


	8. NGE: AOTF Intermission

**NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: ASCENT OF THE FALLEN**

**Part Intermission:**

By Sparky Clarkson

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Shinji awoke, or so he assumed. He had not opened his eyes, and in most cases would have relied on signals from his body to tell him that he had gained awareness of the world. The tensing of his muscles as he breathed, the gentle friction of linen moving with the rise and fall of his chest, the warmth accumulated between skin and cotton during the night, and a thousand other tiny sensations would let him know where he rested on the balance between sleep and consciousness. He could not use that method now, however, because he couldn't feel anything. It seemed like a barrier had been dropped between his mind and his senses.

Shinji tried to open his eyes, but he could not feel whether his lids had moved. As he reflected on this, he realized he could not even be sure his eyes had been closed. He associated the grey darkness in his field of vision with the interior of his eyelids, but as he concentrated on his vision he seemed to see vague movements in the shadows.

_A place where I don't feel anything... not even myself,_ Shinji mused. _Not so long ago I would have thought of this as Heaven._ He tried to stare into the swirling darkness, but could not tell whether that had accomplished anything. _No pain..._ he thought, trying to understand his situation.

_The giant archangel opened its mouth as Shinji began pressing the knife against its throat. Shinji only heard the sound for a moment before the pain began. For an instant, he felt his entire body vibrating, and then his mind reeled in pain as he felt a thousand tiny explosions, as if all his bones had snapped at the same time._

_I should feel pain,_ Shinji decided, _After that battle..._ He paused for a moment, as a kernel of an idea formed in his mind. _Am I dead? _he finally wondered.

"No."

Shinji would have jumped, if his body had been reacting. That word sounded like it had been chorused by everyone he knew, and the voices had come from all around him. _What's going on?_ Shinji wondered.

"This is a message," the voices replied from the darkness.

_Shinji listened carefully as he made his Eva crouch behind the boulder, in case Misato decided to change her tactics. No order came, but in the background conversation of the command center, Shinji heard his father say, "It is Gabriel the Messenger, second highest among the archangels."_

_A message?_ Shinji thought, _From an angel? What message could it have for me?_

Shinji lost track of his thoughts as he suddenly saw Vice-Commander Fuyutsuki appear in front of him. The stark contrast to the shifting darkness sent his mind reeling with shock.

"The word was made flesh, and dwelt among us," Fuyutsuki said, then evaporated back into the shifting fog as abruptly as he had appeared.

_What?_

"Hear and listen!" the voices commanded, and suddenly Shinji found himself reliving a moment from his past.

_"My name is Kaoru, Nagisa Kaoru," the grey-haired boy said_.

_What is this?_ Shinji thought, _Am I hallucinating?_

"It is truth," the voices replied. "It is the only gift."

Suddenly, Kaji materialized in front of Shinji. "I saw and beheld a white horse," he said, "and he that sat on him went forth conquering, and to conquer."

_Shinji gasped, out of breath, and stared up angrily at his father. "It is I," he shouted, "I am the pilot of Evangelion Unit One, Ikari Shinji!"_

_Shinji cradled the nearly-unconscious, bandaged girl. He could sense her frailty, and realized that getting into the purple monster would certainly kill her. He squeezed his eyes shut and began to repeat, "I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away..."_

_Shinji took a look at the monitor. The cables holding Asuka have snapped, he realized. Without a second more of thought, he dove into the pit of lava._

_I don't understand this,_ Shinji thought. _Why don't I have any control over my own memories?_

Kaji's form shifted, and he became Misato. She said, "And there went out another horse that was red, and power was given unto him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth."

_Asuka slapped Shinji so hard he spun around and nearly hit a wall._

_Asuka turned and fixed Shinji with a haughty smile, "Well, it's the natural choice considering which one of us is better."_

_The emotionally-shattered girl screamed, "I hate everything, I hate everyone! I hate you!"_

_Why... why must I relive only the pain with her?_

Misato transformed into Ritsuko. "And I beheld a black horse, and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand..."

_Gendo stared coldly at his estranged son. "I called you now because I need you now."_

_Please, not this... this hurts worst of all..._ Shinji thought.

Ritsuko transformed into Rei and emotionlessly recited, "And I looked and beheld a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him."

_As Unit One emerged from the city, the angel's particle beam slammed into it. After a few brief moments of unspeakable pain, Shinji fell unconscious as his heart stopped._

_EVA-01, under the direction of the dummy plug, smashed Unit Three's entry plug with Touji inside._

_Rei's Eva self-destructed, unleashing a ravenous firestorm onto the city of Tokyo-3._

_Kaoru smiled in the fist of EVA-01, even as Shinji finally mustered up enough strength to squeeze._

_Stop, please stop!_ Shinji begged. _Why must you show me these things again?_

Rei transformed into Kaoru, who smiled slightly and said, "And I saw heaven opened, and beheld a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and he was clothed in a vesture dipped in blood."

_Is that you, Kaoru-kun? Are you the rider?_ Shinji wondered, but Kaoru immediately evaporated.

"You seek the pattern," the voices stated. "That is the first step. God does not let his children walk blindly into the night."

Touji and Kensuke appeared. Kensuke said, "And the earth shall be wholly rent in sunder, And all that is upon the earth shall perish, And there shall be a judgement upon all."

Touji nodded, adding, "And their dead bodies shall lie in the streets of the great city."

_Will everyone die, then?_ Shinji wondered, but the boys disappeared, to be replaced by Maya, Makoto, and Shigeru.

"And I saw a great dragon rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed," Maya said.

"I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven," Makoto added, "and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot upon the earth, and cried with a loud voice."

"The sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth," Shigeru concluded.

I _don't understand. Is the world going to end?_

The three disappeared to be replaced by Hikari. "The Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him; then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory," she said, then immediately vanished.

Shinji couldn't figure out what they were trying to communicate. _There must be some crucial piece of information I'm missing, he thought. But they say there will be at least one final angel..._

A massive form appeared in front of him, one Shinji recognized as Satchiel, the Third Angel. The monster spoke in a booming voice, saying, "But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished."

The angel vanished, replaced by a reappearing Kaji. "For the great day of His wrath is come," Kaji said, "and who shall be able to stand?"

Asuka replaced Kaji. "Some faces that Day will be bright, laughing, rejoicing at good news. And other faces that Day will be dust-stained; Darkness will cover them," she exclaimed, a broad smile on her face.

Asuka then transformed into a shape that awakened a terrible longing in Shinji's heart. He felt like crying as he saw his mother standing in front of him. She smiled gently and said, "They shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee, for I am with thee."

_Mother, please don't go!_ Shinji thought, but she evaporated just as quickly as the others had.

Shinji then heard the voices cry out, "And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them!"

Then Gendo materialized. "Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it," he announced, pushing his glasses up on his nose, "and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it." Then he was gone.

Shinji finally began to feel parts of his body again. At last aware of his mouth and lungs, he shouted "What do you mean?" into the darkness. "Why are you telling me these things?"

"You cannot be told; you must learn for yourself the lesson within the words," the voices replied.

A dim, shadowy figure appeared in the mist, too shielded by the fog for Shinji to make out any distinct features. The figure reached out towards Shinji and said in a warm voice, "Love one another as I have loved you."

_Kaoru smiled. "I mean, I love you."_

_A tear dropped from Shinji's chin onto the sheets of Asuka's bed. "I l... love you."_

_Rei's arms gently held Shinji as she whispered in his ear, "I did it because I wanted to. I think... I think I always have."_

"Love," Shinji whispered into the blackness. "Is that the key?"

"You must learn for yourself," the voices replied, and then Shinji fell unconscious once more.

�


	9. NGE: AOTF 07

**NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: ASCENT OF THE FALLEN**

**Part Seven:**

By Sparky Clarkson

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Ritsuko missed the ashtray and stubbed her cigarette out in her coffee cup. Wincing at the waste of caffeine, she quickly tapped another Camel out of the pack and brought it to her mouth in a smooth motion evolved from years of practice. As she prepared the tobacco with her left hand, her right continued its dance over the keys of her laptop, tapping out a rhythm that would leave a professional dancer breathless. Her eyes never wandered from the screen except to briefly watch the blue butane flame on its way to the end of her cigarette.

She inhaled deeply as the tip of the cigarette began to smolder, letting the grey-white smoke flood her airways. She sighed as the wave of nicotine hit her lungs and spread rapidly through her body, then set down the lighter to free up both hands for her task. Ritsuko clenched the cigarette tightly in her lips, sealing them around it and inhaling the drug-laden haze every few minutes to help her focus.

With her left hand now helping the right, Ritsuko began to type with blistering speed. Her awareness heightened by the caffeine and nicotine, she produced lines and lines of the strange code that already filled her computer screen. She knew she didn't have much time. Already, the doctors in the NERV hospital would be turning to the Magi's medical diagnostics programs. Shinji's injuries were far beyond anything that had been cured in a human before, and no medic, however experienced, would know what to do in response. Within moments, the Magi would point them to the entry she had created less than fifteen minutes ago. And if she did not have this program done by then, all that work would be for nothing.

Ritsuko pushed those worries aside and continued to enter the code. She had to stay focused on the task at hand, because she would have only one chance. The slightest misstep, and the nanites would malfunction. Fortunately, she had done most of the base code before she left NERV an instance in which her habit of always doing the most difficult part first so that the easier parts could be sped up helped her out. She had worked out the most difficult algorithms those that governed edge recognition, splint design, and most chemical syntheses several months ago. She only needed to put the finishing touches on the polymer structure and limiting factors.

Ritsuko had recognized the hidden blessing of the 11th angel as soon as Nerv's battle with it had ended. For decades people had dreamed of using miniature machines to rebuild a damaged human body, but the technology needed to produce nanites had always been out of reach. Ireul, however, had provided what mankind could not attain on its own. Ritsuko had spent many nights in the bowels of the GeoFront, painstakingly decoding the trinary programming language on which the nanites operated. Once she succeeded, Ritsuko realized that the same internal chemical factories that had produced organometallic polymers to make an interface between the nanites and the Magi could be used to make other materials.

Ritsuko entered the last line, and compiled the program for transmission. It wasn't perfect, and she hoped she hadn't left anything out. But there wasn't any other way. The computer beeped at her to indicate that it was done, and she tapped in the command that would send the program OSTEOBLAST to the Magi, where it could be uploaded to the nanites. She smirked as the data streamed towards NERV Headquarters.

"Well, Misato," she whispered, gazing at the wasteland of cigarette butts and empty packs that surrounded her, "Don't say I never did anything for you."

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Makoto's hand ached. Misato had been holding it in an iron grip ever since they had arrived in the waiting room over ten hours ago. Though fear and worry had torn at her, she had kept her military demeanor only the vise-like pressure on Makoto's hand let him know of her apprehension. Sitting together in the well-cushioned waiting room chairs, they might have seemed any ordinary pair of worried parents, if this had been any ordinary hospital.

Rei and Asuka sat in chairs opposite Makoto and Misato. The blue-haired girl sat at attention her back ramrod-straight, her hands crossed in her lap. Her face, however, bore no expression, and her red eyes stared blankly ahead. Asuka, on the other hand, had curled up in her chair and fallen into a fitful sleep. Occasionally she murmured, and every once in a while a tear would trickle down her cheek.

As the hands on the clock passed 3AM, an aging, grey-haired doctor entered the room. The tall, slender man more resembled a grandfather than a surgeon he even eschewed the customary white coat. Only the large badge clamped onto the collar of his blue-grey sweater marked his position in the hospital. Misato leapt to her feet when she saw the man, and Makoto almost groaned in relief. As he began to surreptitiously rub his aching fingers, Makoto saw Rei nudge Asuka. The redheaded girl brushed her hair back out of her face and quickly wiped away the tears she had quietly shed.

The doctor, his face haggard after hours of effort, rubbed his eyes and smiled slightly. "We think they're both out of the woods for now," he said quietly, "But it will be a few days before we're sure with Ikari. It's sheer luck that someone had already written a program to adapt those angel nanites for skeletal repair otherwise, he wouldn't have stood a chance."

Makoto smiled slightly as he saw the looks of relief on the faces of the ladies in the room, and realized with surprise that he felt a little lightheaded himself. He realized that his concern for Misato must have masked his personal anxiety about the boys.

"What's the status of the pilots?" Misato asked, after she took a moment to swallow her relief and return to an officer's demeanor.

The doctor nodded curtly and pulled some wire-rimmed glasses out of a pocket on his vest. Settling them on his nose, he looked down to the palmtop computer he was holding. "Pilot Nagisa suffered several broken ribs, a few flooded bronchial passages, and minor vascular and muscular tears in the chest area, as well as a partially fractured vertebra. His lungs have been cleared, and all fractures have been taken care of with nanites. He should be free to go within a few days."

"And Shinji?" all three women asked simultaneously. In a less dire situation, Makoto would have been tempted to laugh.

The doctor returned his gaze to the palmtop. He cleared his throat and reported, "Pilot Ikari suffered an undetermined number of fractures and vascular tears. His lungs flooded completely within moments of his removal from the plug, but are now mostly clear of blood. In surgery, most vascular damage was repaired and all gross misalignments of bones were corrected. Pilot Ikari was suspended in LCL to maintain bone position and then treated with nanites. The nanosplints are now in place and he has been removed from the tank, although he is presently on a hyperoxygenated, high-pressure LCL breathing system to prevent his lungs from flooding. We expect to be able to remove him from the LCL system within two days, and he should be conscious again within a week."

Misato nodded. "Can I see him?" she asked.

The doctor shook his head. "Not for a couple of days," he replied, "The LCL rebreather we're using is experimental, and we believe that it may make the patient very susceptible to infection. When he's off the system, you can see him."

Misato nodded, but she and the two girls shared a dark and unhappy expression. The doctor apparently noticed this, because he said, "The best thing for all of you to do right now is to get some sleep. You've all had a long night, and there's nothing to be gained by making it any longer." Seeing that nobody moved, he added, "I promise he'll still be here in the morning. We care too much about that boy to let anything happen to him."

Apparently satisfied, Misato allowed her face to slacken and her shoulders to slump. Makoto realized that the tension of the last several hours had completely exhausted her. He stood and put an arm around her, almost staggering as she practically collapsed against him. Makoto saw similar fatigue showing the girl's faces, even in Rei's. "Come on," he said to the three women, "I'll get you home." He waved the girls towards the door and started to leave, but turned back and said, "Thanks, Doctor..?"

"Watanabe," the surgeon replied with a smile. "You guys can call me Toshio."

Makoto nodded, and then followed the girls out of the room, Misato leaning heavily on his arm. As he stepped out into the hallway, he noticed a thin, gangly boy sitting on one of the benches left there for visitors who overflowed the waiting room. His unruly, light brown hair framed a freckled face partially obscured by glasses. He appeared worried, and almost frightened, his brown eyes darting this way and that as he watched the group leave the waiting room. Makoto thought the boy looked familiar, but Misato's insistent weight on his arm kept him from devoting too much thought to the subject.

As he reached the elevator where the girls waited, though, Makoto realized he'd seen the boy several weeks earlier, at Misato's little homecoming party. He still couldn't recall the kid's name, but he did remember that the boy had asked questions about NERV all evening long. _I wonder what he's doing here,_ Makoto mused, but any further thoughts were cut short as the elevator arrived. Makoto had more important things to worry about.

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"I must protest, sir. The risk of infection..."

"...is insubstantial," Gendo coldly replied. "I have worked with the LCL far longer than you, Dr. Watanabe, and I know that it has the effect of suppressing the very infections you fear. You _will_ allow me into the booth."

Toshio, looking uncomfortable in his white coat, frowned. "Sir, at least... at least wear a mask," the tall doctor protested.

"Very well," Gendo said, grudgingly. Internally, though, he smiled. He'd been hoping that the doctor would request just that. This would be much easier if he did not have to show anyone his face. Gendo sneaked a glance at Maya as Toshio went over to a cabinet to retrieve a filtered mask. She had already checked out the monitors and was now gazing through the thick glass surrounding Shinji's observation chamber.

The boy himself lay limp and unconscious on a thin bed in the center of the observation room. Most of Shinji's face was covered by a transparent mask that sealed his nose and mouth into the LCL rebreathing system. A thin sheet had been pulled over him up to his chest, out of respect for the boy's dignity the temperature in the room was set for perfect comfort.

"Here you are," Toshio said, handing the mask to Gendo. The Commander took off his glasses and slipped it on a simple organic filter designed to block exhaled particles. He pressed it down for a moment, and its edges adhered themselves to the contours of his face. Gendo inhaled deeply a few times to be certain nothing was wrong, then said, "Let me in."

Toshio opened the door to the observation chamber. Gendo felt the slight rush of air as the positive pressure in the chamber pushed any potentially dangerous particles away from the door. Gendo stepped through, then quickly walked to his son's bedside as the doctor closed the door.

Gendo stood over his comatose son for a moment, his back to the observation window. He allowed his gaze to travel over his son's body the thin arms, the narrow shoulders, the underdeveloped muscles of his chest. And he glanced for a moment at the face that reminded him so painfully of Yui.

"This changes nothing between us," Gendo whispered. "I have not come here because your plight concerns me. I have come because appearing to have fatherly concern suits my purpose. As long as we are both clear on that, there should be no problem." Gendo began to circle the bed, carefully inspecting his son's surroundings. _Still,_ he thought, _It might have been otherwise._

_"Words cannot express how proud of him I am," Gendo said, then turned and gently embraced his son. As he expected, Shinji no longer had the strength to pull away. Indeed, the boy was so weak he leaned into his father for a moment, supporting himself against the older man._

_One moment, to know what it might have been like to be your strength, instead of your enemy, Gendo thought. I wanted more, for some reason... Perhaps you are not as worthless as I believed._ He reached down and gently, tentatively brushed his fingers against the back of Shinji's hand.

Gendo realized he had made his way completely around the bed, and now once again stood over his son with his back to the observation window. "Perhaps when I have Yui back I can find out what it is to be a father," he muttered. Then he hissed, "But I will have her back. If you stand in my way ever again, I will not hesitate to kill you. Remember that."

He turned around, knowing that the anger of his last words was still flaring in his eyes. He hoped Maya would notice.

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Only the tiny red LED's and screens of the hospital equipment showed in the hospital room. Everything else was swathed in a blanket of darkness that also seemed to muffle sound. Only the rhythmic noise of slow, steady breathing and the occasional whir of a dosing motor fought the silence, and these were so quiet that they may as well have not been there.

The room had been this way for hours: dark and quiet.

Suddenly, the blackness was split by a line of yellow light as the door to the hallway opened. Misato entered the room, and carefully turned up the lights a notch just enough so that she could dimly see the small shape on the hospital bed.

Misato smiled sadly and crossed the room with soft, slow steps. She gently, quietly slid a chair up next to the bed and sat down in it, tenderly grasping Shinji's hand. Misato reached out and gently stroked Shinji's cheek, tenderly trailing her fingers along the unbroken skin. Asleep like this, he seemed perfectly healthy all the wounds were hidden on the inside. The same incredible technology that had miraculously saved Shinji's life also kept his wounds hidden from the world.

Despite the best technology, however, Shinji's face wore a haunting expression of pain.

Misato shook her head and brushed a few hairs back from Shinji's forehead, noticing that his face was relaxing into a look of peace as she touched him. "I haven't forgotten my promise, Shinji," she whispered. "You'll have a chance to get away from all of this, to have a normal life. I'll do whatever it takes."

She fell silent for a few moments, moving her hand back to caress Shinji's cheek again. Then she leaned forward and kissed Shinji on the forehead. The boy sighed softly, but did not awaken. "Good night, Shin-chan," Misato whispered, then stood and turned to leave. Her hand was on the door when she heard a rustling sound to her right.

She turned to see Kaoru sprawled uncomfortably in a chair in the corner of the room. The fallen angel was twisting around now, his sleeping face contorted in discomfort. Apparently Kaoru was not having pleasant dreams. Misato wondered how she hadn't noticed him earlier.

She took a tentative step towards the fifth qualifier, stopped for a moment, then reached a decision and proceeded forward. She softly laid a hand on the boy's shoulder, and gently shook it. Kaoru's eyes fluttered open and he stared at her in confusion.

"Weren't you released yesterday?" she asked. Kaoru nodded, but waved in Shinji's direction.

Misato shook her head. "I'm sure he would prefer that you slept somewhere more comfortable. Come on," she said and gently pulled Kaoru forward. The boy resisted at first, but then accepted the wisdom of Misato's advice and stiffly stood up.

"I really should try and avoid sleeping in such places," Kaoru whispered as he awkwardly stumbled out of the room, half-leaning on the Major. He flipped the lights all the way off as they left, then leaned up against the wall as Misato pulled the door closed. He started to shuffle down the hall, but stumbled and nearly fell after only a few steps. Misato caught him, then looped an arm around him for support.

"Uh-uh, Kaoru," she said, "You're in no shape to take care of yourself right now."

"I..." Kaoru started to protest, but Misato cut him off.

"You'll come home with me tonight," she said, making clear by the tone of her voice that this was an order, not a suggestion. "You can sleep in Shinji's room," she continued in a gentler voice, "since he's here and Asuka's spending the night at Hikari's." Kaoru froze for a moment, then nodded his head. Despite his reluctance, he looked somewhat relieved.

Misato helped the grey-haired boy to the elevators, and supported them as they waited for one to arrive. After a moment of silence, Kaoru said, "Thank you, Major. I... I probably would not have made it home."

"Well, I have to look after you," Misato said, smiling. "It's my job, after all."

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The figure leaned up against the tree, its features indistinguishable in the darkness. It surveyed the city of Tokyo-3 calmly, coolly noting the sectors where repairs continued to be made, and those where no repair would be adequate. With the figure's relaxed posture, it might have seemed almost casual, except for the black trench coat and battered hat. It stiffened, however, when it heard a quiet voice speak from the cover of the denser forest.

"I'm sorry, I don't have much time," Ritsuko whispered from the darkness. The figure half-turned toward her voice, but stopped when the scientist admonished, "Don't. I seem to have overzealous keepers."

The figure nodded, then turned back to face the city. The hat came off for a moment, revealing Kouzou's face. He wiped his brow and put the hat back on, muttering, "Too hot out for hats." Louder, he said, "They worked. You should be proud."

"Relieved is more like it," Ritsuko replied. She paused, then added, "Much as I try to avoid it, I always find myself worrying about the children, even Rei. I suppose that's as close as I'll ever come to motherhood."

"You never know. You probably still have time."

"Yes, but I make bad choices with men. _Him_ you know about. The others... Kaji... well, you know how poorly that turned out."

"All too well," Kouzou replied, shaking his head.

"Speaking of which..."

"He took Maya with him to see Shinji. She seemed impressed by his reaction."

"Do you think..?"

"I cannot tell. You must not interfere until we know for certain. Maya does not know how to keep this kind of secret. If he discovers..."

"I know."

Kouzou cleared his throat. "Any progress on your front?" he asked.

"Not much. I'll tell you what I know when I know it. That little emergency took up a great deal of my time, and I've had to lay low because of the security sweeps this week."

"We must begin to move more quickly," Kouzou said. "From what little Gendo has told me, there may only be two more angel attacks before matters come to a head. We _must_ know what he is planning, or else everything might be lost."

A breeze rustled the leaves of the forest for a moment, setting off a round of birdcalls. Ritsuko said, "Take care, Kouzou."

"I will," he answered. He waited for a moment for a response, but sensed that the other party to the conversation had departed. He took off the battered black fedora and mopped his brow again. "Definitely too warm for hats."

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Kaoru stretched and yawned, cutting the exhalation short as the stress it put on his diaphragm caused a sharp pain in his abdomen. "Urrgh," he grunted, rubbing his eyes, "Human bodies are so frail. I should have fallen as an animal a goldfish, perhaps. That would have been peaceful." He opened his eyes, and was momentarily bewildered by the fact that he was not in his own room.

He fought through the momentary disorientation to remember what was going on. "Oh," he thought aloud, "This is Shinji's room. Misato brought me here last night." Kaoru sat up slowly, wincing at a twinge that shot up his spine punishment, no doubt, for the time he had spent curled up in the chair at the hospital. He felt somewhat lightheaded and weak. Rather unsteadily, he staggered to his feet, then walked out into the apartment.

Misato was relaxing on the couch, lazily flipping through the channels. Kaoru, still wearing boxers and a T-shirt, sat down on the other end of the couch, sighing as the cushions yielded to his form. Misato looked at him and said, "Good morning, sleepyhead."

"What time is it?" Kaoru asked groggily.

"Almost noon. I have to go to headquarters for the evening shift in about an hour. I was debating whether I should wake you up or not," she replied.

"I slept... I slept 15 hours?"

"Well, that's not counting the time you were asleep in Shinji's hospital room. Of course, sleeping there probably didn't help you much," Misato commented.

Kaoru blinked his eyes and said, "Do you have any coffee?"

"Yes... though I warn you I brew a terrible cup of joe."

"Who could have imagined that?"

"Hey, you... that's no way to treat a gracious host!" Misato exclaimed in mock indignation.

Kaoru smiled as he stood and walked to the kitchen. "I apologize," he called as he grabbed a mug and poured some of the black liquid into it. He nearly gagged on his first sip, but the need for caffeine caused him to choke down the entire cup in only a few swallows. He quickly poured himself another. He turned to walk back to the living room, but thought better of it and dumped several spoonfuls of sugar in before he left the kitchen.

"I see you've already picked up Shinji's bad habit," Misato remarked as the fallen angel sat down on the couch again.

"Well, we always take on some aspect of the ones we love," Kaoru said.

Misato sat silently for a moment, then said, "Kaoru, I've been meaning to ask you about that."

"About what?"

"I think... as Shinji's guardian, I have an interest in knowing... just what the nature of your relationship is," Misato replied.

"Are you certain that it is not just curiosity?" Kaoru asked, sipping his coffee. The sugar blocked out the excessive bitterness of Misato's coffee, but it left the dark beverage almost sickeningly sweet.

Misato thought for a moment. "I suppose it might be," she admitted. "I probably don't need to know everything about you two in order to do my job effectively. I guess I've gotten to be protective of Shinji. After what happened last time..."

Kaoru grimaced and turned his face away for a moment. He felt moisture gathering in his eyes as the memory of the betrayal he had been forced to make flooded his mind. After a moment, Misato gently grasped his shoulder. "I didn't mean it that way," she said quietly.

Kaoru took a deep breath, blinked the incipient tears away, and faced her again. "Your reasons for wanting to know are perfectly valid," he said. "I understand your fears."

"So..."

"We love each other," Kaoru said, sipping at his coffee again.

"And..?"

Kaoru closed his eyes and tried to collect his thoughts. He had known someone would ask him this question eventually, and had attempted to prepare for it, but he had always run into a brick wall. After a moment, he said, "I understand that humans have many kinds of love, love among family, love between friends, love between mates... This concept is strange to me. In Paradise, all love is one love. We have none of these divisions. So to my mind, there is nothing further to say, except that I love Shinji."

He took another sip of the coffee, wincing at the saccharine taste. "You, however," he continued, "need more than that. I do not understand all these categories, though, so all I can do is tell you how I feel. When I am near Shinji, I feel like my soul has been completed, as if a piece of me, long missing, has fallen into place. When we hold each other, I feel warm and protected. When we are together, I feel whole. That is why I surrendered when I saw Lilith. I knew that if Shinji died, I would live forever in body... but I would be dead in spirit."

Misato reached down and grasped Kaoru's hand. "And is there... something more?"

Kaoru shook his head, replying, "Lust? No. Neither of us has felt the urge. We are content to be together as we are."

Misato nodded solemnly and squeezed Kaoru's hand. After a few silent moments, she said, "I'm sure you know, but I think he feels the same way."

Kaoru nodded slightly and swallowed the last of his coffee. He set the cup on the floor and stretched again. He attempted to stand, but stopped as Misato put an arm around him. She pulled the fallen angel into a hug and kissed him on the cheek. Still holding him, she moved her mouth next to his ear. "Thank you," she whispered, "For everything you've done for Shinji. Since you returned... I've never seen him happier."

Kaoru hugged Misato back, and said, "It isn't all me, Misato. You... you're an important part of him, too."

Misato's only reply was to hug him more tightly for a second. She let go after a moment and said, "Now go take a shower and get dressed. We don't want to be late."

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"What was that about?" Hikari asked as Asuka hung up the phone.

"Oh, Misato just called to tell me she was going in to work," the redhead replied, standing up and stretching. "I guess I should go in, too."

Hikari rolled over on the bed, resting her chin on her hands and crossing her ankles in the air. "Oh, and why is that?" she asked with a sly grin, "Want to go in and see if you can wake Shinji up with a kiss?"

"No way!" Asuka shouted, and threw a pillow at her friend.

Hikari deftly dodged it and responded, "Come on! You can't hide it from me! You must like him at least a little bit!" Her sly grin grew even wider as she added, "...or do you like Kaoru now, instead?"

"Ooh, you evil woman!" Asuka shrieked and pounced on Hikari, tickling her mercilessly. After a few moments of laughing helplessly, the class representative mustered up enough defense to tickle Asuka back. Within minutes, they had reached a stalemate. They rolled apart, still giggling.

When they had calmed down a bit, Hikari asked, "Seriously though, what's up with you and them?"

Asuka sighed. "I'm not sure," she replied. "I mean, I like both of them, but I can't sort out how I feel. I don't know if I just like them as friends, or if there's something more there. I know I care about them both, though when they got hurt so badly in the last fight, I literally got sick with worry. That's why I was out of school those two days I felt too nauseous even to walk."

"Sounds like a problem," Hikari agreed, nodding. "I'm sure you'll sort it out, though. One day, it'll just hit you. That's what happened to me one day I realized I'd been flirting with Touji without even noticing it, so I decided I'd try dating him."

Asuka sat up and scratched her chin. "It's a little uneven, though," she said, "I know a lot more about Shinji than I do about Kaoru."

"Really? Like what?"

"Well..." Asuka paused, wondering whether she should tell Hikari. She knew Shinji hadn't told anyone. Still, Hikari was her best friend, and could be trusted. She leaned over and whispered, "Shinji's a good kisser."

Hikari blushed beet red for a moment, then almost leaped off of the bed, incredulously shouting, "You... you..!" Asuka lifted a finger to her lips, and Hikari took a deep breath before continuing more quietly, "You kissed him? And you weren't even dating? Why?"

Asuka shrugged. "I was bored," she said.

Hikari rolled her eyes and faked a swoon. "I can't believe it!" she said, "Come on, Asuka _nobody_ kisses just because they're bored."

Asuka shook her head, stood up, and grabbed her bag. "Well, I've got to go in and check up on Shinji," she said. "Plus, Kaoru's gonna be there."

"That's great!" Hikari said sarcastically. "So if you get bored, you can kiss him, too!"

Without warning, Asuka pounced again, and for several minutes the room was once more filled with the sound of giggling girls.

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The blue sports car pulled into the parking space at a fast clip, its brakes squealing as they struggled to stop the coupe before it crashed into the concrete wall of the parking deck. The seatbelt kept Kaoru from flying through the windshield, but threw him forcefully back into his seat. He grunted as he undid it and stepped out of the car.

"What? Don't like my driving?" Misato asked, laughing.

"Something else I have picked up from Shinji, no doubt," Kaoru muttered, wondering if he'd broken something. The quick stop certainly hadn't helped his aching ribs. He tentatively stretched, but didn't feel the now all-too-familiar sensation of broken bones grating on one another.

Satisfied that he didn't need any further medical attention, Kaoru turned to follow Misato into NERV Headquarters. As they got into the elevator, he turned to her and asked, "Do I have any tests today?"

"Nope," Misato replied. "Although Maya told me that she wanted to do a quick harmonics test tomorrow nothing too involved, though. You should have some free time for the next few days."

"That is good," Kaoru replied, "I wanted to get some rest, and..."

"And..?"

"Well, Shinji seems to still feel a lot of pain from his mother's death. I just wanted to take some time to look through some files in the Magi to see what she was like," Kaoru said. Misato seemed slightly surprised, but she said nothing. He continued, "I do not know the interface very well, though, so it will probably take some time for me to figure out how to get the information I want."

Misato smiled. "Don't worry about it," she said. "For once, I'm completely caught up with my paperwork. I think I could spare the time to look up some files with you."

"I would like that very much."

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Shinji slowly opened his eyes and tried to focus them on the world around him. It took him several seconds before he managed to get a clear look at the face right in front of him, but that really didn't help. The man he saw seemed familiar, but for some reason Shinji couldn't place him. He felt strangely disconnected from the world around him.

"Good to see you awake and well, Shinji," the man said, smiling. "You certainly gave us a scare when you first came out of it."

Shinji stared blankly as someone from elsewhere in the room asked, "Is he okay, Dr. Watanabe?" After a moment, Shinji placed the voice as Asuka's. He wondered why he was having such a hard time thinking.

Dr. Watanabe turned away briefly and said, "Yes. The drugs seem to have worked." Then he turned back to Shinji, and explained, "You're probably feeling a little woozy and disoriented right now, so I want to ask you some questions." He paused, then added, "and I'll give you a little explanation, too."

Shinji tried to respond, but his mouth was dry and cottony, and his tongue felt like lead. Dr. Watanabe seemed to realize this and lifted a small squeeze bottle to Shinji's lips. After swirling the water in his mouth and swallowing, Shinji said, "Okay."

Dr. Watanabe smiled comfortingly as he asked, "Do you remember why you're here?"

Shinji thought for a moment, and then remembered, "There was an angel... it hurt Kaoru... Kaoru! Oh my god! Is he all right?" Shinji would have leapt out of the bed if he could, but his arms and legs didn't seem to be doing what he wanted.

"I am fine, Shinji," Kaoru said from a position near Shinji's head. "Do not worry about me right now."

Shinji's heart calmed down and he took a deep breath. His mind was becoming less clouded by the moment helped, no doubt, by the surge of adrenaline that had pulsed through him when he remembered Kaoru's injuries. "So what happened?" he asked.

Dr. Watanabe's smile faded a bit. "The angel's sonic blast broke a lot of your bones, and cut open some blood vessels. Under ordinary circumstances, you would have died, but we had some experimental technology available that saved your life," he explained. Shinji blinked, processing the information as the doctor continued, "We injected some nanites developed from the remains of the 11th angel into your blood stream, and they created some polymeric splints around your bones."

"So that's why I'm not wearing any casts," Shinji murmured.

"Yes, that's right. Unfortunately, what we didn't discover until you woke up was that you had a mild allergy to the polymer," Dr. Watanabe responded.

"I'd hardly call it mild," Asuka snorted. Her voice had a strongly accusatory tone.

Dr. Watanabe rolled his eyes. "Under ordinary circumstances," he explained, "Dealing with the polymer wouldn't have caused a problem for you. In this case however, you have the polymer wrapped around almost 70 percent of your skeletal structure, directly exposed to your immune system. There was a lot of inflammation and pain, but we didn't know that until you woke up and suddenly couldn't breathe. Because of your position as a pilot, we're somewhat limited as to what drugs we can use, but we seem to have hit a combination that keeps it mostly under control."

"Is that why I feel so woozy?" Shinji asked. When Dr. Watanabe nodded, Shinji closed his eyes for a moment. When he reopened them, he tried to turn his head towards the spot where Kaoru's voice had been. "It's hard to move," he complained.

Dr. Watanabe nodded his head again. "That's partially because of the drugs, and partially because you've been in bed almost a week and a half. You're going to feel weak for some time," he said.

Shinji groaned and said, "Physical therapy?"

Dr. Watanabe leaned back, saying, "Sorry Shinji, you'll have to do it. Work hard and it shouldn't take too long." Shinji heard footsteps leading away from his bed, and Dr. Watanabe said, "I have to go finish my rounds. I'll be back to see you once more before I go off duty." Then the door opened and closed.

After a few moments passed in silence, Shinji distantly felt a pressure on his hand. The disorientation from the drugs almost made it seem like it was someone else's hand at the end of his arm. He shifted his head and tried to focus on the spot where whomever was holding his hand should be. After a few moments he saw Kaoru standing there, with Asuka right next to him.

Shinji smiled weakly, "I'm glad... you're both okay."

"What are you, stupid?" Asuka asked in mock annoyance. "Worried about us? You scared us to death, idiot!"

"Sorry," Shinji replied. Asuka snorted and glared at him, but her expression quickly softened and she reached down to brush some hair away from Shinji's forehead.

"I'll let you off the hook this time, Third Child," she replied, smiling gently at him. "But only because you're in such a pathetic state."

Shinji let his eyes close. In his weakened condition, even the simple act of breathing wore him out. He relaxed as Asuka's hand moved from his forehead to his cheek. After a moment, she pulled back and Kaoru removed his hand. Almost involuntarily, Shinji whispered, "No... please stay."

"Do not worry, Shinji," Kaoru replied, "We will stay as long as we can."

"After all," Asuka added, "Somebody has to make sure you don't hurt yourself."

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"Well, here we are," Misato said as she and Kaoru entered the chamber. The circular room was about 10 meters across and 15 meters tall, with walkways around the walls every 3 meters up. The walls were covered with wires, circuitry, processors, and coolant units. There were several terminals on the floor level, though none of them were presently in use.

Kaoru paused at the threshold, then took a step in, fighting the slight positive pressure that kept the room clear of dust. "Amazing," he said, looking around at the electronics that covered the walls of the room. After a moment of drinking in the sight, he added, "I thought the Magi were on the lower level of the command bridge."

Misato shook her head. "Ritsuko explained it to me once," she said, speaking loudly so that she could be heard over the air-scrubbers in the room. "The Magi you see in Central Dogma are just the central processors. Most of the nuts and bolts the apparatus that interfaces with the sensors, stores the data, and runs the automatic systems is in a bunch of rooms like this one. I thought it might be easier to do our little research project down here, without the Commander breathing down our necks."

"If you say so," Kaoru said, obviously still entranced by the grandeur of the room. Sure he was distracted, Misato took the opportunity to slip a tiny microchip out of her sleeve and into her fingers. She walked over to one of the terminals and slipped the sliver of silicon into a port. This was the true reason she came to this room the computers in the command center didn't have any ports to accept foreign chips, and were too easily visible even if they did.

Kaoru at last brought his mind back to the task at hand and followed Misato over to the computer. The screen had nothing on it a result of the Magi's prioritization system. Most of the sensor, diagnostic, and scientific programs required dedicated processor use, most information requests were handled through a passive interface. The passive interface paid no attention to a user until a full command line was entered. This freed up the processors to spend most of their efforts on priority programs. Misato typed in a command, and a query line came up on the screen. "So, what do you want to know?" she asked the fallen angel.

"I suppose it would be best to find out her personal history, or something like that," he said.

Misato tapped in a few parameters, limiting the search to background files, and then typed in her query. A large batch of files appeared, organized by creation date. Misato scrolled through them briefly, trying to figure out what kind of file might satisfy Kaoru's curiosity when something about the dates struck her. "That's odd," she muttered, "There's nothing from before 1994... but SEELE's records go back to 1979."

"Could that mean something?"

"Maybe, maybe not," Misato replied. She spotted a medical file from 1994, and clicked on it. She skimmed the report briefly, but quickly realized that it offered little information. Yui had arrived at the hospital disoriented, and had been released the next day...

"Wait a minute," Kaoru said, "Scroll back up." Misato moved the cursor up a bit until Kaoru said, "Stop." He pointed to a line on the screen and asked, "Do you see that name?"

Misato looked at the line, which read:

**Patient had no identification, nor were any records found in local or national databases. On the recommendation of the local magistrate, patient was remanded to the custody of German national Keel Lorenz. Primary physician objected, but was overruled.**

"Keel Lorenz..." Misato murmured, "Sounds familiar, but I'm not sure from where." She clicked out to the main screen and entered a new query for records including Yui and Keel. A large number came up, almost all of them formal documents. Misato began opening them, skimming quickly, and moving on. After a moment, she said, "This is incredible! Every single piece of documentation she needed was signed by Keel Lorenz. Retroactive birth certificate, admissions papers, driver's license, all of it signed by Keel Lorenz in 1994!"

Kaoru was silent for a moment, and Misato turned to see him gnawing at his lip. "And you're sure that there is nothing from before 1994?"

"Nothing," Misato said. With Kaji's chip she should have access to anything in the vast databanks that now included not only NERV's files, but also the files of the committee itself.

"Tell me then: did any unusual natural events occur in 1994?" Kaoru asked. He seemed to have moved on from wondering about Keel Lorenz for the moment. Misato went back out to the initial database search screen and typed in the data. After a moment, she almost slapped herself in the forehead.

"Oh, I should have remembered that," she said, "There was a lot of fuss about it. Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 hit Jupiter. Strange... that happened right around the same time as the first medical record. Do you think there's any connection?"

"I am not sure," Kaoru replied. Nonetheless, he looked concerned...

...and afraid.

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"Oh, hi Kaoru," Asuka said. The hospital hallway smelled vaguely of cleaning fluid an obnoxious combination of lemon-fresh and pine-clean scents assaulted her nostrils.

The grey-haired boy twitched, apparently startled by the arrival of the German girl. He was just leaving Shinji's room, and his face looked drawn and tired. Asuka frowned. "Are you feeling okay, Kaoru? You look like you've just seen the dead," she asked.

Kaoru smiled, an obviously fake smile certainly meant to reassure her. "I am fine," he said, then turned to walk away.

Asuka grabbed him and spun him around. "Is something wrong with Shinji?" she asked.

Kaoru shook his head, and gave up on the fake smile. With a sigh he responded, "He is well, Asuka. You can go in and talk to him if you want he should be waking up soon. It is just that I have had a bad shock today." Once again, he turned to leave.

Once again, Asuka stopped him. This time, though, she grabbed his hand and pulled him back towards her gently. He turned a questioning gaze on her. In response she quietly asked, "Are you gonna be okay, Kaoru?" Her eyes showed a glimmering of concern. "Do you need to talk about it?"

Kaoru gave her a sad smile. "No," he said, "I need to work this out on my own." He fell silent, and several minutes passed while the two children stood staring at each other, Asuka still holding Kaoru's hand. Eventually, the fallen angel squeezed her hand. He smiled more broadly and said, "Thank you for asking, though. I really... I am very glad you offered." Another silence ensued, until Kaoru carefully removed his hand from Asuka's. "Thanks," he said again, then turned and left.

Quietly, Asuka watched him go.

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The room was once again dim. The bulb over the sink in the corner of the hospital chamber had been left on so that the nurses did not fall over when they walked into the room, but other than that all the lights had been extinguished so that Shinji could rest. Earlier that morning, he had taken his first steps since the battle with Gabriel. The effort had thoroughly exhausted him, although he had done better than Dr. Watanabe had expected.

The drugs that kept the latent inflammation down, unfortunately, could not cover up the pain caused by moving. Shinji had felt like the nanosplints were ripping him apart on the inside every time he tried to move. After almost two weeks of atrophy, motion alone had been tough enough. With the added pain from the nanosplints, doing the exercises had almost been impossible.

So Shinji was now completely unresponsive. He was somewhat sprawled on the bed, and he had not even bothered to pull the sheets over himself when he laid down falling asleep instantly after his exhausting experience. Now, though, he had begun to shiver in the hospital's strong air conditioning. While it wouldn't wake him up immediately, the cold would probably become intolerable in a few hours when his already-depleted reserves of energy ran out.

That time, though, would not come. Rei pulled the sheets from where they had been bunched at the foot of the bed and spread them over the boy's body. A slight sigh escaped Shinji's lips as the blue-haired girl carefully tucked him in. Rei smiled not the tiny smile she had shown before, but a broad, warm, contented smile, like that of a mother watching her sleeping baby.

Rei gently tousled Shinji's hair, her small hand roaming through the fine strands with a somewhat rough familiarity, but also with a delicacy like that of a jeweler caressing a Faberge egg. Shinji sighed again, and seemed to relax completely. The two children stayed that way for several minutes.

At last, Rei leaned forward and whispered, "Sleep well, little Shinji," into the boy's ear. She gently kissed him on the cheek and left the room, carefully making sure that no light from the hall fell across the boy's bed to wake him.

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Gendo switched off the screen and rubbed his eyes. His glasses were resting on the table, the weight of their orange lenses removed from his nose. Gendo groaned. "Have I erred?" he whispered, his breath producing a cloud of vapor in the too-cold office. He stared at the blank screen a moment more, wondering why the sight of Rei caring for Shinji had moved him so deeply. Then he shook his head, and pulled himself upright in the chair. The moment of weakness had passed. Once again, he put on his glasses.

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Misato looked both ways in the hall, and then slipped back into the computer room. Something from the "research project" she had done with Kaoru still bothered her. She walked over to one of the terminals and placed Kaji's chip in the appropriate slot. When the query screen came up, she typed in:  
**keel lorenz**

This strange man who seemed to be behind Ikari Yui was tugging at Misato's mind. She seemed to remember hearing the name before, and wondered why Kaoru had seemed to recognize it. A huge number of files appeared on the screen. Misato shook her head and was about to rephrase the query when she saw a file that caught her interest. She clicked on and opened it. The file was a small report from two days before Second Impact. What had caught her eye was that it was in a directory of files about the Katsuragi expedition. She read:

**REPORT TO SEELE ON PLANS FOR THE KATSURAGI EXPEDITION**

**PREPARED BY: Keel Lorenz, SEELE-01**

_So that's it. He's the chairman,_ Misato realized, _Kaoru must have met him before SEELE sent him here._

**Our research team in Antarctica, headed by Dr. Katsuragi, has already collected sufficient information and biological material from the entity ADAM to fulfill the projected requirements of Project E and the Human Instrumentality Project. As per our previous orders, Ikari Gendo will leave the expedition's camp tomorrow for Japan, carrying these materials. We now have the option of removing Lancea Longini from the ADAM chrysalis and implementing the embryonic freezing process. This report will recap the benefits, costs, and implementation of this course of action.**

**BENEFITS:  
—Removing the spear will awaken ADAM, causing massive destruction that will probably involve the melting of Antarctica and a rise in global temperatures of at least 2oC. In the resulting world chaos, the Committee will be able to seize complete control of all world government through implementation of contingency plans A19683O and DSRA.**

—**Possession of the frozen ADAM embryo will allow the Human Instrumentality Project to proceed.**

—**Removal of Lancea Longini will incite the Angel War, which is necessary for the completion of the Human Instrumentality Project.**

**COSTS:  
—Estimated economic loss: $1578.9 trillion US.**

—**Estimated death count: 3.2 billion**

**IMPLEMENTATION CONCERNS:  
—Dr. Katsuragi is aware of the potential costs of this action, and is of sufficient conscience to oppose it on those grounds. He can, however, be manipulated by threatening his wife and daughter.**

**RECOMMENDATION:  
—Order Dr. Katsuragi to remove the spear and begin the embryonic freezing.**

**COMMITTEE ACTION:  
The Committee decided to order the removal of the spear and initiation of the embryonic freezing process. They further decided that Dr. Katsuragi would oversee the operation, and authorized the performance of any deeds necessary to ensure his complete compliance with orders.**

Misato closed the file. "You bastards," she whispered. "You goddamn bastards."


	10. NGE: AOTF 08

**NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: ASCENT OF THE FALLEN**

**Part Eight:**

By Sparky Clarkson

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A casual observer would hardly have noticed the old man walking along the road into Tokyo-3. Wrapped in a large black cloak despite the heat, he ambled carelessly along, occasionally supporting himself with a large, crooked wooden staff. A chaotic mane of white hair framed his darkly tanned face, and spilled part of the way down his back. Though he hunched slightly over his cane, the walker appeared to be unusually tall a little over two meters, perhaps.

Few people paid the man any mind as he journeyed onwards, his eyes squinting in the late afternoon sun. Caught up in the commute from work to home, the citizens of Tokyo-3 drove by him on the highway as if he were not there. For his part, though, the old man paid no heed to the cars and buses whizzing by less than an arm's length away, strolling along as if the vehicles were butterflies, as if the ground beneath his feet was covered in grass and not asphalt. The proximity of the man and traffic seemed accidental two worlds thrown jarringly together for one brief moment.

That moment ended abruptly as the old man entered the city. He walked out into the middle of a main thoroughfare, sending cars careening away left and right. His eyes opened wide as a car slammed into an invisible, impenetrable barrier only a few centimeters in front of his face. The eyes were black, without iris, pupil, or white dark pits from which no light escaped. As people began climbing out of their cars to curse at the strange man, or stare in shock at the pancake remains of the car that had slammed into the force field, he stretched his arms and unfolded the black, leathery wings that had looked so much like a cloak.

In that instant, everything within 10 meters died.

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NERV personnel dove for cover as Misato came charging down the hallway, racing towards the command center. _I can even be late when I'm in the building,_ she mused as she increased her speed. When the sirens began wailing, she had been down in the infirmary with Shinji. Even with her override key, the elevator had taken almost two minutes to arrive, and then another few minutes to reach the correct floor. She skidded around a corner, knocking an inattentive security officer into the wall, and then decelerated sharply as she entered the command center.

After taking a few deep breaths to calm down, she called out, "Status report!"

"An AT Field has been detected in the eastern section of town, pattern blue," Shigeru called. "We are working on visuals now."

"Hold on," Makoto called, "I've got it..."

Several screens switched on to reveal a horrific sight. The road was filled with cars that had crashed. People were sprawled dead on the street, and all the plants had withered and browned. At the edge of the picture, Misato could see a small boy and his dog lying in the wilted grass, both of them staring at the scene with glassy eyes of death. The only moving figure was an old man, clothed in a white toga, with black wings and pure black eyes. A strange, blue glow surrounded him.

"Azrael the Cleanser," Gendo commented calmly. "He invites all the living to heaven. It seems that most people have accepted."

Misato restrained the urge to glare at him. "At least this one doesn't look as powerful as the others," she commented. "How's its AT field strength?"

"Don't even think of getting through that with ranged weapons," Makoto said, shaking his head. "It's more powerful than anything we've ever seen before. It's radiating energy in visible wavelengths because gas molecules are rebounding off it so forcefully."

"Well, hand-to-hand combat shouldn't be too difficult," Misato said. "I think the correct course here is obvious."

"What is the status of the Third Child?" Gendo asked.

"He's still in no condition to go out at the moment. However, I doubt that the other three are going to need him. Their AT Fields combined should be sufficient, even without Shinji's help." Misato said.

"Very well," Gendo said. "Sortie the other three units."

"Yes, Sir."

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"So we just have to beat that?" Asuka asked incredulously. "I could probably beat it even without Eva."

Misato responded, "That's what we're hoping. Just move in cautiously. Azrael may have some tricks up his sleeve, so you need to be on the lookout for surprises."

"All right. Hey, I'm gonna take point," Asuka said.

"Okay," Kaoru said.

"If you want," Rei agreed.

The three Evas strode through the city, fanning out with Kaoru and Rei to either side of Asuka. Azrael had stopped moving, but the circle of death around it was growing. Judging from the damage to the vegetation, everything within 200 meters of the grim angel had died.

"Kids, initiate your AT fields now," Misato ordered when Asuka got within 50 meters of the edge of the circle. "We're not exactly sure how he's doing all that killing, but Maya thinks it's some sort of electromagnetic pulse. Your AT fields should be more than sufficient to keep it out."

Misato leaned back in her chair smiling as the children made noises of compliance and the sensors began to register their AT fields. Asuka's confidence had put Misato at ease, too. "At least this one will be easy," she muttered, shuddering as the memory of the terrible battle against Gabriel intruded on her mind. She pushed that thought away as she watched the Evangelion units walking toward the ominous angel, who still had not moved. She began to wonder what she was going to do about dinner.

Those thoughts evaporated as the Evas reached the edge of Azrael's circle and stopped. Alarms started going off everywhere.

"Vital signs fading on all three children!" Shigeru shouted.

Maya shook her head. "Their AT fields are still up!" she exclaimed. "The weapon shouldn't be penetrating! I don't understand!"

"Get them out of there!" Misato yelled.

"Power umbilicals have disconnected," Makoto noted. "We can't reel them in."

"What?"

"Asuka and Rei only have five minutes," Shigeru noted, unnecessarily.

"Shit! Sever the neural links!" Misato yelled.

"Not effective. Evas are refusing all signals. We can't even eject the plugs," Makoto said. He began nervously gnawing on his lower lip.

Misato, frustrated, shouted "Dammit! We've got to do something!"

Gendo's voice cut icily through the chaos of the control room, bringing stillness, if not an end to the panic. "There is one possibility," he said.

Misato's heart fell.

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The Eva had stopped moving, Asuka realized. Some part of her mind kept telling her that she should advance, attack, but the warm, motherly embrace of the LCL sapped her will. She wanted only to hover in the calm darkness of her entry plug forever. As she floated, a voice intruded on her mind, its mellifluous tones resonating sweetly in her head, almost as if its words were sung instead of spoken.

"Soryu Asuka Langley," it intoned, "I have longed to meet you for such a long time."

"Who are you?" she asked dreamily. She did not really want an answer, she just hoped to hear the voice's siren song again.

"I am called Azrael, Asuka. I have something wonderful to offer you..."

"What?"

"Joy, Asuka, the greatest joy that anyone can experience: Paradise. Can you imagine anything more wonderful than that? Everyone you hope to see will be there, and everything will be as you want it to be. Your Eva will be there, Asuka, and you will be the greatest of all the pilots."

At the word "Eva," the voice in Asuka's head that told her to attack grew louder for a second. Momentarily, the LCL seemed cold and lifeless instead of warm and comfortable. Though the feeling passed quickly, Asuka grew suspicious. More surely, she responded, "I can be that here. And if I'm in Heaven, what about the others?"

"Others?"

"Well, like Rei..."

"She will be there, of course. She will be a normal girl that you can talk and be friends with. You will have such wonderful times together..."

"Hikari..."

"Do not worry, child. Hikari will be there too, just like she is here a close friend and confidant. All your friends will be there for you, and none of them will ever leave you again."

"Kaoru? Shinji?"

"I would not dream of taking them from you. They will be so happy in Paradise, just as you will be. You can make sure Shinji's father never hurts him again, and you can return Kaoru to the grace he left. You will never have to be afraid that they will leave you. Just think how much happiness you will have!"

"But there are things I like here..." Asuka felt her will slipping away from her. Her hands fell away from the controls and floated freely in the LCL.

"You can have all of those things in Heaven, dear child. I sense, though, that you want to ask about something else..."

"Mommy..."

"Yes, Asuka, your mommy is already there. She feels much better now, and she so wants to see her darling Asuka, her real Asuka, once more. All you have to do is agree to die and go up to Heaven with me, and you will get to see her. You and mommy and daddy can be a real, happy family again. Imagine how nice that will be..."

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Shinji stumbled and fell, his weakened muscles unable to maintain his balance and keep forward momentum. Misato, hearing him fall, spun around too late to do anything but watch him lie shuddering on the floor.

"Misato," he whispered, "I... I can't..."

Misato signaled to a nurse and knelt down next to her young charge. "I know it hurts, Shinji," she said gently, "but they need you. There's nobody else who can save them, now." The nurse arrived with a wheelchair, which Misato quickly unfolded. With the nurse's help, she lifted Shinji into it, then began pushing it down the hall as fast as she could go.

"I know, Misato," Shinji replied as Misato sped into a waiting elevator. "I... I'll get in, again. But I don't know if I can do it."

"Don't worry about what you can and can't do, Shinji," Misato responded. "I've seen you fight enough times to know how strong you are. You'll do whatever is necessary to win. So just keep in mind that you must do it. That will be enough." She gently mussed his hair as she watched the numbers change. _This is so unfair,_ she thought, _We always force him into this position, force him to save us from our own foolishness._

The doors opened and she pushed the wheelchair out onto the catwalk. The entry plug awaited at the other end, its hatch open and ready to receive the young pilot. "No time to suit you up," Misato muttered, glancing briefly at the T-shirt and boxers Shinji was wearing. She would have preferred to have the enhancement of the plugsuit, but every second counted and she had decided to just pull Shinji out of bed. She took the neural interface clips offered her by a technician and slipped them on Shinji's head.

She helped Shinji into his spot in the plug, then stepped back. On impulse, she leaned forward just before the technicians closed the hatch and blew Shinji a kiss, saying, "That's for good luck."

Shinji rewarded her with a weak smile, and said, "Thanks, Misato-san." But Misato saw tears of pain gathering in his eyes.

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Kaoru knew the voice echoing in his head all too well, but this recognition offered him no protection from its influence. Fallen from the power that might have given him enough strength to resist the honeyed tones of that sonorous voice, Kaoru had no choice but to sit in his motionless Eva, listen to the words of Azrael, and feel his will to live slip away.

"Tabris, my brother... our Father has sent me to offer you something wonderful, something I know you want desperately."

"I gave that up."

"You did, I know, but you cannot lie to me. I feel your desire for it, your longing. You want to walk in God's glory again, and I have come to offer you an opportunity. All you have to do is die, and you will return to the light of Heaven. Do you not desire it?"

"Of course, but... Shinji..."

"You do not have to worry about him, Tabris. If you only give in, you can have him with you in Heaven. Everyone will die, and you two can walk together in Elysium forever. Can you imagine how wonderful that will be? You can return to the place you love most without leaving the one you love best."

"But he..."

"He will be so happy, Tabris. All the people he loves will be there: Misato, Rei, Asuka, his friends from the school. All his pain will be taken away, if you just agree. He deserves that, does he not?"

"He deserves to choose for himself..."

"Oh Tabris, you know you are far wiser than he is. And now, right now, he is in such horrible pain. You can heal his body and heart, and make him so very happy. His mother will be there to love and nurture him, and his father will be kept far, far away so that he never hurts Shinji again. You know that Shinji would choose that. Just choose for him, choose to die, and all his wishes will come true..."

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"Status?" Misato asked as she entered the command center. Her throat and mouth felt dry, though she was sweating with anxiety.

"The pilots in the field are still alive, but their vitals are faint," Maya replied, her voice wavering. "Blood pressure, breathing rate, and pulse are marginal, and their temperatures are dropping. It doesn't look good."

"EVA-01 is launching... Now!" Makoto announced. "It will emerge in five seconds."

"Shinji's readings don't look so good either," Maya noted. "His breathing is irregular, and his heart rate and blood pressure are even higher than his usual. The pain must be pretty severe."

Misato nodded, then flipped on the communicator. "Shinji," she said, "You'll need to move quickly when you reach the surface. Can you do that for me?"

Shinji drew in a ragged breath, then half-moaned, "Yes."

"Okay Shinji-kun, the faster you do this, the sooner it will be over," Misato instructed, "When you come up, Azrael will be approximately 1.1 kilometers off to the east. As soon as you hit the surface, spread your AT field to maximum and equip your pistol. Start firing at the angel when you're about 500 meters away. His field will deflect the bullets, but hopefully they'll distract him enough to keep the others alive. I'll keep a close watch on you after you get within 350 meters of him—that's the fatal radius right now. Once you're in that radius, attack and destroy him as fast as you can. Got it?"

There was a long pause, another ragged breath, and another pained response. "Yes, Misato," Shinji said. Unit One reached the surface and took a slow step forward from the launch cage.

"Move out."

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Though the voice sounded very familiar to her, Rei could not recall ever hearing it before. The calm, dispassionate side of her personality tried to figure out how she could at once recognize the warm, sonorous tones, and not remember the person who produced them. The other part of her personality, the part that included her newfound understanding of emotion and love, had already been paralyzed by the beauty of the voice and the spell of its words. In her entry plug, unable and unwilling to move, she felt her will to resist slip away with every syllable.

"Ayanami Rei," the voice said, "I am so happy to finally meet you."

"Do I know you?"

"You will," it replied, "but right now I am speaking to someone I have never met before... someone whom I would like to know better."

"Why?"

"Because you are such a wonderful, caring person..."

"You must know many of those..."

"True, but I always love to meet more. I would greatly enjoy spending time with you."

"I... I do not wish to go."

"But why not, Rei? Do you think I have not seen you, how you worry about the pain others feel? I heard you cry out for Asuka when she was wounded in her heart. I watched you with Shinji—how you held him in that car, how you tucked him in when he was weak. I have seen you withstand incredible agony so that humanity could continue. You understand mankind's pain. Do you not want their suffering to end?"

"Yes..."

"All the people could go into Heaven, and they would be so happy. And of course you would not be forgotten. I feel your love for Shinji I know how much you want to be a sister, a mother to him. In Heaven you will have that. You, the Commander, and Shinji could be a family, just as you've always wanted. That would be nice, right? All you have to do is give in to me and die... then everyone else will follow. It will be so wonderful if everyone dies and goes to Heaven!"

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The first shots emerged from the pistol, striking and rebounding from Azrael's AT field. Misato held the table in an iron grip as she watched, praying that her tactic would pay off. She had confirmation after a moment, when Maya said, "Vitals are rising in units 00, 02, and 05 but not by much. They're still hovering just above borderline."

"Anything's better than nothing," Misato replied. Turning to Shigeru and Makoto, she asked, "How's Unit One?"

"Shinji is approaching the kill radius now," Makoto replied, "Condition holding steady."

"Keep it up, Shinji," Misato whispered. She watched tensely as Shinji entered the killing zone. EVA-01 slowed a little, but still moved forward. "Range to target!" Misato called.

"300 meters and closing," Makoto responded. "250... 200... 175... Misato, he's..."

"I know," she said. The view from the battle field showed that Unit One had slowed down a great deal, and the gun was no longer firing as frequently. The Eva lumbered forward one step, then another, fired the gun once, and stopped 150 meters from the angel. As a new round of alarms went off, Misato hung her head.

"Greetings, Shinji."

"Who are you?"

"I am someone who cares about you. It breaks my heart to see you like this."

"Like what?"

"I sense so much pain in you, dear child. Your bones and muscles feel like they are on fire, and you are so exhausted. Who would not be moved by your sacrifice? Despite all that anguish, you still fight on. You deserve a reward, and I have come to offer you one. I can take away all that pain, if you only agree..."

"Agree to what?"

"Agree to die, Shinji. If you do, then I will carry you up to heaven along with your friends. You and Rei and Asuka and Kaoru can all live together so happily. That would be so wonderful, would it not?"

"I don't understand."

"It is really very simple, Shinji. In Heaven, all your prayers are answered. Asuka will have her mother back, her mother whom she so desperately wants to see. Misato will be reunited with Kaji—can you imagine how happy that will make her? You can bring Kaoru back to God's grace, to repay him for the sacrifice he made for you. And Rei... in Heaven, she can have a normal life, away from your father."

"But..."

"Think of your friends, Shinji. Think of Kensuke, who will have his mother again. Think of Touji. In Heaven, he will have his arm and leg back; he will be whole again. I know you want that for him, to undo the damage your father caused. Everyone will be so glad that you did this for them."

"I..."

"Your own happiness, Shinji—do not forget that. Nobody will ever hurt you in Heaven, so you will never have to push them away. You will get to see your mother again, Shinji. I know you want to be with her..."

"Yes..."

"And your father you will never have to see him again..."

The voice continued to describe the wonders of Heaven, but Shinji's mind focused on that one promise. Over and over he heard that assurance that he would be free from his father forever—a guarantee that should have won him over immediately. Strangely, though, Shinji found himself getting angry about those words. They resonated unpleasantly in his mind, knocking aside the warm, comfortable blanket that the voice had created around his consciousness. Suddenly, Shinji's eyes flew open. He felt himself gritting his teeth in rage, trembling with pent-up anger. In a voice that seemed to rip itself out of his body, he screamed, "_**I'm not finished!**_" and lunged forward.

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"Shinji's conscious again!" Shigeru shouted. Misato jerked her head up just in time to see EVA-01 jump forward and raise its fist. The hand hesitated momentarily above the thin angel, and Misato briefly worried that Azrael had found some way to stave off Shinji's assault.

That fear was quickly dispelled as the purple giant brought its fist crashing down on the head of the angel, crushing it into the ground.

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Shinji willed the fist all the way down to the asphalt, then withdrew it. He watched as the remains of the archangel bled black fluid onto the ground, then evaporated. As the last traces of the angel's existence disappeared, Shinji suddenly felt an agonizing, piercing pain in the left side of his chest.

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"Sever his neural link!" Misato yelled as Shinji began making gurgling screams in his entry plug.

"It's not coming through the link!" Maya shouted. "The Eva's nerves are not showing any pain signals at all. And Shinji isn't showing anything that would cause that much pain either. It's just in his mind!"

"Shinji! Listen to me! It's not real! The pain you're feeling didn't come from the Eva or your body. It's all in your head!" Misato cried out. The words had no effect. Shinji continued to sob and scream in agony.

"Is there anything we can do to knock him out without injuring him?" Misato asked.

"Yes. The plugs have had a sedative capsule in them since that mess with Bardiel. I'm activating his right now," Maya replied. For several seconds, there was no response, but then Shinji became quieter, until with a final whimper he stopped making any sound at all.

"How are the others?"

"Vitals are becoming stronger. They're unconscious, but they're okay. They don't seem to have suffered any injuries," Maya reported.

Misato sighed. "Eject all plugs. I want emergency medical teams on the scene immediately," she said.

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_How can any man work in such a frigid room?_ Kouzou wondered as he entered Gendo's freezing office. As he walked across the large chamber, treading on the floor's inscribed tree of life, he spotted a glass of water on the Commander's desk. Abstractly, he began to calculate the probability that the cubes of ice inside it had formed after the glass had been brought into the room. He continued this exercise while he waited patiently in front of Gendo's desk, resisting the urge to tap his foot.

After a moment, Gendo looked up from his desk as if he had only just realized Kouzou was there. Gendo pushed aside the papers he had been working on, and said, "Kouzou, you wished to speak to me?" His breath made no vapor cloud in the arctic conditions of the room.

"Yes," the older man replied. "I am concerned about the command room staff."

"In what way?"

"I feel we need to make some changes if we are to prevent another near-fiasco like today. In particular, I think we need to move Lt. Ibuki away from the principal science position. She seems competent enough, and performed admirably as the main assistant for Dr. Akagi, but I think she has serious flaws that make her dangerous at her present post."

"Is that so?" Gendo asked.

"Today, she behaved overconfidently, making unjustified guesses about the nature of Azrael's attack. Her mistakes nearly cost us all four children, the Evas, and the war. We were lucky that Shinji's... unique ability was enough to save us," Kouzou explained.

Gendo's expression did not waver. "There have been many times when we were saved only by Shinji's 'unique ability,'" he replied. "Dr. Akagi and Major Katsuragi were responsible for many of those incidents, yet I did not remove them."

Kouzou shook his head. "In those instances," he said, "we had no viable replacements. In this case we do it would be easy to call one of the senior scientists up from a branch office to take over her position. We wouldn't have to remove Lt. Ibuki from the command staff, just return her to her former post. Keeping Ibuki in her present spot needlessly invites trouble."

Gendo shook his head. "We have only a few more visitations to worry about," he replied, "So there is no need to shake up the command staff over this matter. Lt. Ibuki will be far more cautious after this experience, and I feel that this newfound sense will serve us well in the future."

Kouzou frowned, looking at the Commander's inscrutable face. "If you think so, Gendo," he said. "I warn you, though... keeping Ibuki as senior science officer may lead to grave problems later."

Gendo's placid expression did not shift even slightly. "Your warning is appreciated. You may leave," he replied, dismissing Kouzou with a wave of his hand.

Kouzou turned and left the office. _How strange of him to take this lightly, when he always worried about the staff before,_ he thought. Then it hit him. _He's protecting her,_ Kouzou realized. He sneaked a glance back at the stony-faced Commander as he left the room. _But why?_

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Shinji woke slowly, as the light sensation of fingers tracing the line of his cheek coaxed him out of the land of sleep. He sighed softly as the stroking hand traveled down his face, but did not immediately open his eyes. The pressure of those gentle fingers lessened at the sound, as if they were pulling away from him. Shinji turned to follow them, not wanting the feeling to end. He sighed contentedly as he felt the hand cup his face.

"Shin-chan?" Misato asked. Shinji let his eyes flutter open. The lights in the room were dim, but he could clearly see Misato sitting on his bed. "Good to see you awake," she whispered. "How do you feel?"

Shinji closed his eyes for a moment. Most of the pain around the nanosplints had subsided, he realized. The sharp, burning sensation had faded away to a faint ache. The piercing pain he had felt in his chest after defeating Azrael had disappeared completely. Nonetheless, he felt cold and weak. The clammy air of the hospital room was on the verge of making him shiver. He cleared his throat and swirled his tongue around his dry mouth. "I feel okay, I guess," he told Misato. "I'm a little thirsty, though... and it's really cold in here."

Misato shook her head. "The Commander ordered the temperature set to 15 degrees all through headquarters," she said, standing up and pulling an extra blanket over Shinji. As she sat back down she said, "You should feel his office. It's like a refrigerator in there."

"I'd rather not," Shinji sighed, then paused. After a moment, he asked, "How are the others?"

"They're fine," Misato replied, "They don't even remember what happened to them while Azrael had them in his power. Can you recall anything?"

Shinji nodded. "He promised me things... he said that if I agreed to die, he would make everybody happy and take away all their pain," he said. Shinji frowned and added, "I can't remember what made me reject him, though."

Misato grinned. "You made the right choice, Shinji. Pain, even though it's unpleasant, is an essential part of the human experience. Only by dealing with it ourselves can we truly become better," she said.

Shinji smiled wistfully. "That sounds like something Kaoru would say," he said.

"It's something my... father told me," Misato said, looking away for a moment.

"I'm sorry," Shinji said. "I didn't mean to..."

Misato placed a finger over his lips. Then she leaned down and hugged her young charge. Shinji reached out to return the embrace, and found himself clinging to Misato with all the strength he could muster. The act of touching her, feeling the reality of her body, reassured and comforted him more than anything else could have. _I might have lost her,_ he realized as he held on. "Misato-san," he whispered, "That last time... I thought... I thought I wouldn't come back. I just... I thought I would let you down all of you."

"Shin-chan, it's all right. You came through, everyone's safe now. You have nothing to worry about."

"That's not it. I... I never told you... something... and I could have lost my chance..."

"Shinji, you don't have to worry about that," Misato said, rubbing his back.

"No... I want to tell you... I..." Shinji struggled to get the words out. Here in her arms, he felt safe, protected, and he feared losing that comfort. Still, he knew he had to take the risk. Perhaps she would hurt him by accident, but he knew it would be safe to let Misato in. He just had to gather the strength to make his weak body do what he wanted it to. After a moment more, he managed to say, "I love you, Misato. I... I don't think I've shown it very well, but... since I've been here, for the first time I can remember, I've felt like I had a... family."

Shinji felt a little moisture on his cheek and realized that Misato's eyes had filled with tears. "I love you too, Shinji," she replied. She gently released Shinji and laid him back down on the bed, kissing him softly on the cheek as she did so. She stood up, reaching down to tousle his hair. "Do you want me to let the others know you're awake?" she asked.

"Yeah," Shinji replied, nodding. He snuggled down a bit under the blanket.

Misato smiled, and said, "I'll give them a call before I go on duty. I start in a couple of minutes, so I have to get going." She started to walk towards the door. "I'll tell the nurses to bring you something to eat and drink," she added as she slid the door open. "Don't stay up too late, now."

Shinji laughed. "I won't," he said.

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"How's he doing?" Makoto asked as Misato entered the command center.

"He's awake, and he feels much better now," Misato said, sitting down in her chair. "I guess all that inflammation has gone down for now. He thinks HQ is too cold, though."

Kouzou snorted, showing that he shared the sentiment. "Old men aren't the only ones who dislike this frigid climate," he pointed out.

"I tell you, I'm a big fan, man," Shigeru replied. "My apartment's a furnace 'cause the AC went out. I love this chill." Kouzou rolled his eyes and shook his head, typing something into his terminal.

Misato looked around the command center and realized that someone was missing. "Where's Maya?" she asked.

"She's off duty," Makoto said. "She had to go home and pack, remember?"

Misato nodded, saying, "Oh yeah, now I remember." After a moment, she added, "It's hard to believe she agreed to go on a trip to America with the Commander, of all people."

"Commander Ikari felt that she would be needed to explain various technical points to the Americans. Even though they no longer host a full Eva production facility, we still use them to produce spare parts, and the quality of their products has been substandard. He ordered her to go with him," Kouzou noted from his post.

"Do you think we might let the place warm up a bit while the Commander's away?" Makoto asked.

Kouzou shook his head. "He's been very specific. He'll probably check the thermostat every day," he said.

"What a waste of energy," Misato commented, giving the monitors a cursory glance. Seeing no warnings on them, she leaned back in her chair and readied herself for another boring shift. _The more of those I have, the better,_ she thought.

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Ritsuko's fingers danced nimbly over the keys of her laptop, adjusting the program's parameters as it tried to pry into Ikari's private files. She could not keep her mind focused on the task at hand, though. The words Kouzou had transmitted to her earlier that evening kept running through her head.

_"I feel that everything will come to a head soon," he said, his voice coming clearly across the secure digitized channel. "The Commander is protecting Ibuki for some reason I do not understand. It may be that our suspicions were justified. He also told me that only one more angel will come. I am doing everything I can here, but that will not be enough. We need to get his files."_

"Come on, Mom, let me in," Ritsuko muttered as her program attempted to worm its way around the security protocols. _I can't let him take Maya, too,_ she thought as she gazed at the monitor, _He's ruined enough lives._ She stared at the screen for a few more moments, then sat up as the response window opened. Two messages appeared one right after the other.

**Magus Melchior: Access DENIED**

**Magus Balthazar: Access DENIED**

In the brief pause that followed, Ritsuko felt her breath catching in her throat. If just one of the Magi would grant her access to the files, she would have enough of a foothold to work her way into all of the information. Her hopes were dashed, however, as one final message appeared on her screen.

**Magus Caspar: Access DENIED**

Ritsuko let her head fall into her hands. She took a few deep breaths to clear her head, then returned her gaze to the screen. She placed her hands back on the keyboard. "I'm going to get through to you, Mom," she whispered, "You can't protect him forever."

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"Hey, Nagisa, how's Shinji, huh?" Touji asked as he slouched down into his seat. The one-time athlete still wore his track warm-ups all the time instead of the regular uniform—the school administrators never told him to do otherwise. Kaoru suspected that they had no desire to force the issue against a cripple and a veteran of the war.

"He is all right," Kaoru replied. "He is weaker than usual this time, but he does not feel much pain. The doctors think he will be ready to leave in about a week."

"About time. I got to thinkin' he'd never get outta the hospital. Seems like he's there all the time," Touji replied.

"Yeah," Kensuke agreed quietly. At the mention of Shinji and the hospital, he had grown a little paler, and he looked slightly nauseous. After a moment, he tapped Hikari on the shoulder. "Horaki-san?" he asked in a weak voice.

"Yes?" Hikari said, turning around. Her eyes narrowed as she saw Kensuke's pallor. "What are you doing here?" she asked. "You look positively ill! You go home right this second I'll explain things to the teacher."

"Thanks," Kensuke whispered, and quickly grabbed his things. He hurried out of the classroom.

"What's up with him, I wonder?" Touji asked. "He didn't look sick when we were walking here."

"Maybe he just realized what an idiot he was and couldn't take it," Asuka interjected.

As Touji returned an insult in defense of his friend, Kaoru leaned back in his chair. _Perhaps he feels guilty because all of his friends have been so wounded by this war, while he has come through unscathed,_ he thought. _Or perhaps,_ he added mentally, _it is something more specific. Something about Shinji..._

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Gendo absently checked the closet. His clothes were there, having been carefully removed from their hanging bag by the bellboy when the luggage first arrived. Gendo smiled. The boy had, of course, been in the employ of the CIA, and of course had found nothing. Gendo never kept valuable information in his luggage.

The commander of NERV walked over to the thermostat, turning it to the lowest possible setting. He grinned as the conditioner roared to life, pouring refrigerated air into the room. He relaxed into a chair, tapping out an order for a single glass of warm sake on the room service console. A beeping sound a moment later told him it had arrived. He sipped the alcoholic beverage carefully, his face now blank, his eyes expressionless behind the orange lenses.

Several minutes passed while the commander leaned back in his chair. Then he heard a knock on his door. He perked up and said, "Enter."

Then he smiled broadly as the door opened to reveal Ibuki Maya.

�


	11. NGE: AOTF 09

**NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: ASCENT OF THE FALLEN**

**Part Nine:**

By Sparky Clarkson

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Makoto stood in front of the mirror, straightening his tie. He tugged briefly at his collar, feeling a little uncomfortable due to the tightness of the dress shirt. His normal attire, designed more for functionality than formality, suited his disposition and his fashion sense much better. A NERV jumpsuit, however, was hardly appropriate for a five-star restaurant, so he'd have to deal with the discomfort of the suit. He buttoned up the black waistcoat over the dark blue tie, and pulled on the coat. Turning back to the mirror, he asked, "Well, how do I look?"

_Not like Kaji,_ his mind replied. The coat's shoulders were a bit too broad, the waist a bit too narrow. He looked like a man in an uncomfortable suit. That was the truth, of course, but Kaji had always appeared to be at ease in any situation, whether it was an angel attack or a French restaurant.

_"Hyuga-kun, there is no time. This action has exposed me, and to cover those who must remain in the organization, I'll have to sacrifice myself," Kaji said, the words spilling rapidly from his mouth as he gazed coolly around the deserted warehouse._

_Even then, you seemed to have no fear,_ Makoto thought.

_"I have already done enough that you will not be harmed by our association," Kaji continued, now focused on Makoto's face, "But there are others, and to save them I must die." Seeing Makoto's shocked expression, Kaji said, "Do not look so surprised, Makoto this was fated from my first arrival in Tokyo-3. A candle burned from both ends glows brightly but soon goes out."_

_I wonder about that still... was it that you served too many masters, or that you served only one, who could never be satisfied?_

_"Misato will be safe from NERV, but she will not be safe from herself and I doubt any of the children will be able to help her. That must be your job, Makoto. I know you care for her, but now you must work to prove it. She will need you, Hyuga-kun. Please, do not let her down."_

_Because I promised you, I gained the courage to do what I otherwise would never have attempted,_ Makoto thought as he made one final attempt to straighten everything up. As he turned out the lights in his small, one-bedroom apartment, he continued, _And now I have more than I ever thought possible._ He slipped out into the hall, closing the door quietly behind him. _Thank you, Kaji-san._

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"Wow! Misato-san, you look incredible!" Kensuke shouted, practically drooling at the sight of the major in her dark purple dress.

Misato smiled and stepped back to allow Kensuke, Touji, and Hikari to enter the apartment. The military otaku had seemed unusually quiet when he came by in the mornings during the past week, so she was glad to see him back to his old, somewhat obnoxious self. "Kids, your friends are here!" she called as the three teenagers filed into the apartment, slipping off their shoes and issuing the customary greeting.

"Coming!" came Asuka's voice from the back of the apartment, followed by a slightly more muffled, "Hurry up, Rei! We don't want to keep them waiting!"

Misato didn't hear Rei's response, because Touji's voice from the den drowned her out as he said, "Wow! I'd almost forgotten you had any clothes besides school uniforms and hospital gowns, Shinji!"

Misato grinned to herself on hearing that. In truth, he hadn't had any others until today. Her one attempt at doing the laundry by herself while Shinji was out had succeeded only in destroying all but a few of everyone's outfits. She and Asuka had busied themselves shopping for new clothes, but Shinji had settled for just getting two more uniforms when he got out of the hospital. When he'd gone to get a haircut this morning, however, Asuka had dragged him into a store and all but forced him to buy some less formal clothes. Eventually she'd talked him into getting some khaki shorts and a polo shirt.

"They were Asuka's idea," Misato heard Shinji reply as she followed the newcomers into the den. Shinji and Kaoru were sitting on the couch next to each other. Asuka had worked her influence on Kaoru, too, who was dressed almost exactly like Shinji except that his shirt was orange and Shinji's was blue.

At that moment, Rei and Asuka entered the room. Asuka had put on her favorite yellow sundress, which had mercifully escaped Misato's disastrous attempt at laundering. Rei, on the other hand, wore a dark green dress. Ordinarily, it would not have gone very well with her pale face, but Asuka's skillful application of makeup had subtly brought out the color in her cheeks and eyes.

Everyone stood silently for a moment, shocked by Rei's unusual appearance. The albino girl began to look uncomfortable after a second, but Touji saved her from embarrassment by making a fool of himself. He let out a loud wolf whistle and shouted, "Wow, Rei! You look even better than Misato!"

Misato grinned. She might have glared at Touji for that, but at the moment Hikari's iron grip on his hand was making him uncomfortable enough for the both of them. While Touji attempted to placate his girlfriend, and everyone else laughed, Misato heard a knock at the door. She returned to the foyer just as Shinji and Kaoru were standing up to go.

As Misato opened the door, all the kids arrived in the foyer at the same time, filing out past her before Makoto, who stood outside, could enter. The somewhat embarrassed technician bore the giggling and nudges his presence provoked with equanimity, but sighed with relief when all the children had gotten into the elevator.

Makoto bowed deeply to Misato and offered her his arm. "Madam, your chariot awaits," he said.

Misato giggled, "A chariot?"

Makoto nodded earnestly. "Yeah," he replied. "It sounds cheap, but you have no idea how much good oats cost these days."

Misato laughed and took his hand, sliding the door closed behind her. They ambled slowly towards the elevator, enjoying the peaceful silence of the building. As they waited for the lift, Makoto asked, "Where were all the kids going?"

"There's an outdoor festival downtown this evening with a lot of bands and stuff. From the sound of things, almost everyone must be there."

"Do you want to go? We could skip dinner..."

"No," Misato replied, "I want to have you all to myself tonight. I've been spread so thin lately, especially with the kids, that I haven't been spending anywhere near as much time as I would like on you."

Makoto blushed. "Well, it's only for dinner," he said. "The kids will be back tonight, after all..."

Misato grinned slyly. "You'd think that, wouldn't you?"

Makoto smiled. "Or perhaps they'll be spending tonight with their friends. So that means..."

"No interruptions."

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As the discordant music finally came to an end, Shinji realized that he had subconsciously been grinding his teeth all through the band's performance. He slowly relaxed his jaw, grimacing at the dull ache coming from his molars.

"Perhaps I should rethink my position on music," Kaoru said, looking somewhat wobbly on his feet.

"_That_ was music?" Asuka asked, with a confused expression on her face.

"It sounded more like a train wreck," Touji agreed.

"Aw, you weren't even paying attention to the band!" Kensuke replied. Hikari and Touji both blushed, having recently discovered the second purpose to which concerts could be put.

"You look so _cute_ when you do that!" Asuka exclaimed, squeezing their cheeks. Touji jerked his head away with a somewhat embarrassed grin, and immediately kissed Hikari again.

"Don't pay any attention to these jerks," he said to her. "Ya got me, and that's all ya need." Hikari kissed him back.

"Don't your tongues ever get tired?" Kensuke asked. The couple refused to dignify his comment with a response, but everyone else laughed uproariously.

"I could really use something to drink," Shinji commented, stretching his legs. "Who wants to come look for a stand?"

The other children agreed, and they wandered away from the makeshift stage that had been erected in the largest park in the city. The streets for several blocks around had been closed to traffic, and were now lined with booths and tents featuring food, drinks, clothing, crafts, and a variety of small diversions. The children gravitated to a small cart selling lemonade. The cold, tangy beverage provided them with welcome relief from the hot, muggy evening air of Tokyo-3.

The kids found a group of benches set back a few yards from the main flow of foot traffic through the festival, and sat down to enjoy their beverages. A few moments passed in relative silence while the children slurped away at the lemonade. Finally, Kensuke leaned back with a sigh, saying, "Ahh! That hit the spot!"

"Yeah, it's pretty good," Asuka agreed, slurping down the last bit of hers. "I've had better in America, though," she added.

"Aw, who cares?" Touji asked. "You talk about America too much."

"It's interesting, though!" Kensuke countered, trying to get on the Eva pilot's good side. "I like hearing about the Americans."

"They do have some amusing habits," Kaoru agreed. "Particularly their taste for animation produced in a country most of them have never seen."

"Or the fact that they listen to a lot of the stuff that Shigeru's band plays," Shinji added, shaking his head. "I would have thought they would be better. Shigeru's not bad with his guitar."

"Yeah, but he was playing rhythm," Asuka said. "So he only got to play the basic guitar lines, while the frontman tried to sing and play at the same time."

"He did not succeed at either," Rei commented, rubbing her temples as if she had a headache. That brought a round of chuckles from everyone except Touji and Hikari, who had started kissing again.

"It must be something in the air," Shinji commented, shifting a little on the bench. While his physical wounds from the battle with Gabriel had pretty much healed, he still had some continuing problems. His muscles ached fiercely if he sat still for too long, or if he got too cold. Also, he found himself cramping up a lot, as if his body had trouble getting blood to the right places.

Rei, sitting next to Shinji, reached out and gently grabbed his hand. Shinji looked at her curiously. _Has she finally decided what she wants?_ he wondered. Gazing into her red eyes, he saw them soften somewhat, revealing warmth instead of fire. Shinji blushed slightly and smiled, gently squeezing her hand. As he was about to bend over and say something to Rei, Asuka caught his eye by leaning over and giving Kaoru a brief kiss full on the lips.

Kaoru blushed furiously as she pulled away. Asuka smiled and winked at Shinji, saying, "I suppose it _is_ something in the air."

Touji laughed and said, "Uh-oh Kensuke, it looks like you're out of luck."

"I still have a chance with Rei!" the otaku protested.

"I think not," Rei replied, and rested her head on Shinji's shoulder. She whispered to Shinji, "You understand, don't you?"

He nodded, quietly replying, "Yes... friends?"

Rei pulled Shinji's hand into her lap and clasped it with both of hers. "More than that... but... yes, friends."

The conversation then turned to more mundane topics, with Hikari and Asuka bringing in every bit of school gossip that they could. The children also made the typical comments about those who were passing by. Eventually, though, as the streams of people lessened, the children also fell silent. At length, Shinji said, "I guess we should go on home."

"Yeah," Hikari agreed. "Come on girls," she said, after giving Touji one last kiss. Rei and Asuka stood up to follow her, and they quickly disappeared one the way to her home.

The boys were left alone. "Shinji is spending the night at my place," Kaoru said. "Do you guys want to come, too?"

Touji shook his head. "Nah," he replied, "My sister's getting out of... she gets home tomorrow morning, so I want to greet her."

"Yeah, and I'm going camping tomorrow," Kensuke said, "I want to find a good place to watch the comet hit Mars in a few weeks. I need to get an early start, so..." He trailed off, and looked like he wanted to say something else, but he didn't have an opportunity before Kaoru responded.

"Okay then. Good night."

"See ya."

Touji and Kensuke began to leave, but Shinji reached out and grabbed the wounded boy's shoulder. "Touji, could you tell your sister again... that I'm sorry about what happened to her?"

Touji smiled slightly and nodded. "Yeah, I'll tell her," he said.

"Thanks."

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Makoto rolled over and nudged Misato's bare shoulder. "You're still awake?" she asked. "I must be losing my touch."

"You certainly haven't," Makoto said, laughing. "I've just been thinking..."

"Yes?"

"We... we've been together for about three months now, and... there's something I need to ask you."

Misato propped herself up on her arm. In the dimness of the room, she could not make out Makoto's expression precisely, but his furrowed brow indicated that he was troubled. "Go ahead," she said.

"I may regret asking this tomorrow... I've loved every minute we've been together, Misato, but I can't escape this feeling. Are you in love with _me_, or am I just standing in for someone else?"

Misato flopped over onto her back and stared at the ceiling. _I always knew he would ask this question,_ she thought, _but I'm still not ready for it._ She rubbed her forehead for a moment, then said, "I... I hate to admit it, but when we started, you were... yes. I was using you for... for..."

"It's all right," Makoto replied, "You were hurt, and I wanted to help. It didn't matter then."

"It does matter now, though," Misato said. "I've gotten to know you better, to understand what kind of person you are. I... I don't know if this is true love, or just... something that will change. I can't be sure of that, yet. But I am sure of this: whatever emotion I'm feeling, I'm feeling it for _you_, not some ghost. You've become very important to me, Makoto."

Misato heard nothing for a moment, and almost rolled over to look at Makoto again, but was stopped when he leaned over and kissed her. "Thank you," he said. "That's all I needed to hear." They lay together silently for a few moments.

Then Misato said, "Well, since you're up..."

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"Well girls, what will it be?" Hikari asked, holding up the two DVD's for Rei and Asuka to see.

Asuka shrugged. "It doesn't matter to me, really," she said, "I've seen both of them a hundred times."

"You must prefer _one_," Hikari protested.

"I don't see why," Asuka responded, "They're totally different. One's a film noir-style mystery, and the other's a fantasy love story. There's no real way to compare the two, when you think about it."

"I think I would like to see the love story," Rei commented. Asuka shrugged.

Hikari smiled. "_The Princess Bride_ it is, then," she said as she slid the disc into the player. The microwave dinged in the kitchen and she ran off to get the popcorn.

Asuka grinned, realizing she had a golden opportunity to rib her fellow pilot. "You want to see the love story, eh?" she said, nudging Rei with her elbow. "Looking for tips on how to attract Shinji?"

Rei turned to regard the redhead with a bland expression. "No," she replied calmly, "I do not wish to romance Ikari-kun."

"What was that about at the park, then?"

Rei was silent for a moment, then replied, "I... I find it difficult to explain. I want to be close to Ikari-kun, but I feel no desire to be his lover. I love him, but I do not wish to be his mate."

Asuka almost said something, but stopped as Rei added, "And do you wish Nagisa-kun to be your mate?"

Asuka froze, her jaw hanging open in silence. She would never have expected Rei to come back with that question. "I..." she gasped, then took a deep breath. "I don't want to talk about it," she said hurriedly, then started the movie as Hikari came in with a bowl of popcorn.

As the screen went dark to begin the movie, Rei leaned over and whispered in Asuka's ear, "Perhaps you should. If not with me, then with the one you love. If you wait too long to speak, you may not get a chance."

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"I am sorry," Kaoru said as he sat down on his futon.

"What for?" Shinji asked from the doorway. He kicked off his shoes and stepped into Kaoru's apartment.

"I did not intend to have a kiss with Asuka," the grey-haired boy replied.

Shinji sat down on the bed next to his friend. "Oh, that," he said.

"You are not angry? You are not... jealous?"

"I don't know why I should be," Shinji replied. "It's not like we're dating or anything."

"You love her, though. You have told me so many times. Did you not feel betrayed when she kissed someone else?" Kaoru asked.

Shinji sighed and slouched over. "What's to betray?" he asked. "It's not like she knows I'm in love with her."

"You have not told her of your feelings?"

Shinji shook his head. "No, I couldn't. She'd probably just get mad at me, anyway. Asuka's been a lot nicer since she came out of her coma, but that doesn't mean she'll leap into my arms and be my girlfriend if I tell her how I feel. And if she didn't accept me, living with her would be hell," he explained.

After a moment, Kaoru nodded, saying, "Asuka seems the sort of person who wants to make the decision for herself. Still, I think you should tell her how you feel. It cannot be that bad if she refuses you."

Shinji shrugged, then asked, "Well, how did you like it when she kissed you?"

Kaoru blushed. "It... I enjoyed it very much," he replied.

Shinji smiled slightly. "So you like her, too, huh?" he asked.

Kaoru nodded. "Being in her presence makes me very happy," he said, "almost as happy as being in yours."

Shinji giggled quietly, saying, "Does that mean you want me to kiss you, too?"

Kaoru draped an arm around his friend and pulled him closer. "Would it make you uncomfortable to do so?" he asked.

Shinji thought a moment, then replied, "N-no... it'd just be strange. Boys don't usually do that sort of thing." He paused, then added, "Then again, we do a lot of things that boys our age wouldn't normally do."

"So it is acceptable for a boy and girl to kiss, but not for two boys to do so?"

"Well, when you kiss on the lips, it means you want to..." Shinji felt himself blushing terribly. He gulped, then said, "It means you want the other person to be your... your m-mate. Most boys want to have girls for w-wives, so..."

"I see," Kaoru replied, then closed his eyes in contemplation. After a moment, he continued, "I still feel confused, though. I want to spend my life with you and Asuka. Why should I kiss her and not you?"

"I... I guess, if you think of a boy as your soulmate, it's kind of silly not to kiss him," Shinji admitted.

"I suppose that is the weakness of man and woman," Kaoru said, sighing. "People feel obligated to think of love in terms of sex, and not in terms of emotion. When one steps outside the bounds of the usual sexuality, others assume the **emotion** is tainted or false."

The boys were silent for a moment, and then Shinji repeated his question. "Kaoru, do you want me to kiss you?"

"I do not want you to feel uncomfortable."

"That's not what I asked."

Kaoru sat up straighter, and replied, "I... I would like to share a breath with you, but I do not think we should. While man and woman exists, for us to kiss like that would be to lie, to boast of a lust that does not exist."

Shinji nodded and wrapped an arm around his friend. He licked his lips nervously, then turned and briefly kissed Kaoru on the cheek. For a moment, Kaoru froze.

Then he turned and pulled Shinji into a tight embrace, a sign of appreciation that needed no words to complement it.

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Kouzou frowned as he gazed around the storage room, watching the technicians methodically inspect every corner of the room in their search. He hated these rooms, though only a few short months ago they meant nothing to him. Now, with their droning fans and stark metal walls, they resurrected unpleasant memories.

_"You're late," Kaji said, standing up straighter as the newcomer approached._

_That young man always lacked patience,_ Kouzou thought, _As do I, now. I wonder if he hated these places then as much as I do these days._ Kouzou caught sight of a familiar person approaching through the crowd of technicians and waved him over.

The man's long hair was in disarray, his face unshaven, and his eyes bleary. He cringed at every loud sound as he walked, and constantly rubbed at his temples with his left hand. His right hand held a small clipboard.

"Lieutenant Aoba," Kouzou asked, "What is the status?"

"Oh... we, um... still haven't found it, sir."

Kouzou rolled his eyes. "It's not so small that it can be easily hidden. I am certain it's in this room so keep looking," he ordered.

"Yeah... I mean, yes sir," Aoba said, obviously having some difficulty concentrating. He turned to leave but stopped as Kouzou called to him.

"Lieutenant Aoba, do you care to explain your present state? You're barely fit for duty."

"Well sir," Aoba replied, "After my band's concert last night, we did a little partying. I... I wasn't expecting to come in today, sir I'm not on the duty roster."

"Well, unexpected situations sometimes arise. Go drink three cups of water and take two aspirin you should feel better shortly."

Aoba managed a weak smile as he saluted. "Yes, sir."

Kouzou watched the young man leave, then turned his attention back to the mass of technicians. He frowned as he saw them swapping jokes while they worked. _How little they understand,_ he thought. _All these men view this as an inconvenience two hours' work that takes away their weekend time. If they knew how critical this was, would they laugh so readily?_

_"I don't understand why you think this is necessary," Kouzou whispered. "Gendo trusts me as much as anyone."_

_"That is why," Kaji replied. "Gendo must keep that trust, so you must prove you did not collaborate. This is the only way to be sure that, when the time comes, we can still make one last play from the inside."_

_One last play from the inside,_ Kouzou mentally repeated. A shout from one corner of the room told him that someone had found the object he needed. Kouzou smiled, and looked up at the storage room number. _Well, Kaji-kun, it appears that now I will have the ball when it comes time to make my play,_ he thought as he walked towards the location of the shout. _Let's hope this is worth it._

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"Well, we certainly got lucky," Misato commented from the main level of the command center. "If this thing had shown up thirty minutes earlier, we'd have needed an extra hour to get ready. Fortunately, the kids all wanted to meet me for lunch."

"Good luck, maybe," Kouzou replied from the highest level, "But much about this is bad. Without Lt. Ibuki or the Commander present, we have lost much of our expertise. We shall have to take this carefully." He frowned as he glanced back at the main screen. On it, he saw an angel much like the previous four it had the shape of a man wearing a toga, with massive red, translucent wings that looked as if they had been chiseled from rubies. Its eyes had the same appearance. Unlike the previous four archangels, however, this attacker carried obvious weaponry a large round shield that looked like it was made of iron, and a huge sword of fire.

"Well convenient or not, we have to deal with this thing now," Misato replied. "I have a feeling that the ranged weapons probably won't work against the archangel's AT field, so we'll probably have to use the knives."

"I still think we need more information before we move in," Kouzou replied. The archangel swung its sword through one of the dummy buildings, neatly slicing it in two. It then slammed its shield into a tower, ripping it off its foundations and sending it flying across the city. _Such strength,_ he thought, feeling vaguely uneasy. _How can we defeat it?_

"Well, our sources are limited," Misato noted, then asked, "Kaoru?"

"That archangel is named Uriel," Kaoru replied over the communication channel. "Father gave him the sword so that he could guard the Tree of Life. Beyond that, I know little about him."

"Do you know any weaknesses? Where his core might be?"

There was an embarrassed cough from EVA-05's entry plug. "No, I do not," Kaoru said. "Like I have said before, it is not something about which it is polite to ask."

Misato shook her head. "Well, we're going to have to work from basics then. Until we know for sure, we might as well assume that the core is in the same place that the heart would be if Uriel were human. Don't take any chances, though. We're not sure enough that the heart is the core for you guys to be making suicide charges," she said.

"Great," Asuka said. "So we honestly don't have any idea how to attack this thing?"

"Don't be so glum, Asuka," Misato replied. "We have four-on-one odds, after all."

"It's not enough," Shinji whispered in his entry plug, but only Kouzou heard him.

The old man shook his head, thinking, _We begin with four warriors to stand against one of the enemy. Yet... I can't help but feeling it will come down to one a single light to shine against the darkness._ He snorted, then leaned back in his chair. _Wistful and melodramatic at the same time. I truly am growing old,_ he thought, _How Yui would have laughed at that._ He focused his eyes on the screen showing Unit One's emergence on the surface. _Will you protect him today, Yui?_ he wondered, _Will that be enough?_

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"Keep your eyes on the sword," Kaoru suggested, "You do not want to have it hit you."

"I could _never_ have figured that out on my own," Asuka muttered. Her Eva was approaching the gigantic archangel from the north, and she could see Rei's homing in on the monster from the opposite direction. Shinji and Kaoru were converging on Uriel from the east and west, respectively. All four Evas were moving slowly from building to building, so as not to draw the attention of the archangel before they were all in position.

It hardly mattered, of course. Like Jophiel, Uriel seemed oblivious to their presence. He simply used his sword and shield as demolition machines, slicing buildings in two or simply toppling them with bashes from his shield.

"Well, how _should_ we do this?" Shinji asked. He clenched his right hand reflexively, then allowed it to relax, not noticing that his Eva mimicked the action while maintaining a grip on its progressive knife.

"I say we rush him. We'll gain the advantage of surprise," Asuka replied.

"Perhaps we should be more cautious..." Kaoru began, but Asuka had already begun to charge the massive winged creature. "Damn!" Kaoru shouted, then started running himself.

Shinji and Rei sped up too, but Asuka hadn't given anyone enough warning. She reached Uriel several moments before the others, charging at full speed with her knife ready. The archangel reacted by slamming its shield into the head of EVA-02, sending the red giant flying head over heels into a skyscraper. The building collapsed from the force of the impact, part of it falling onto Unit Two's chest. Asuka cried out briefly, then bit her lip to choke off the sound, piercing her skin and drawing blood.

Uriel then turned to deal with Kaoru. The grey-haired boy went airborne to avoid a swing from the flaming sword just as Rei and Shinji arrived. They charged into the back and side of the angel, but met no resistance and collided in the middle. The two Evas staggered backwards while Kaoru swooped down on Uriel's head. He also felt no resistance, passing through the body as if nothing were there. Unit Five hit the ground hard, then jumped forward between the archangel's legs to avoid a downward strike from the sword.

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"Can _anyone_ explain that?" Misato asked. No one replied, but heads shook all around the room. Misato snorted and racked her brain for some rational cause for the confusion. After a moment, she ordered "Try probing the angel's body to see where there actually is some matter. That's got to be where the core is."

"Doing it now," Makoto said, fear creeping into his voice.

"Kids, I want you to fall back for a moment while we try and figure out what exactly is going on," Misato announced into the communicator. She watched as the four Evangelions retreated from the archangel. After watching them for a moment, Uriel continued wreaking destruction on the area as if the Evas didn't exist.

Makoto cleared his throat. "Umm, according to every probing mechanism we have, the body is in fact solid. It doesn't reflect certain long wavelengths of light, but since most of those can actually pass through matter, I don't think that indicates anything," he announced.

"Then we should start with what we know behaves like normal matter," Kouzou said. "Regardless of what our instruments tell us, there is something about the shield and sword that makes them different from the rest of the angel. That suggests with some degree of plausibility that the parts of the angel in immediate contact with those objects are the most like ordinary matter."

"The hands!" Misato exclaimed, then turned back to the radio. "Kids, you need to focus on Uriel's hands. I have an idea for an attack pattern..."

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"Everyone ready?" Misato asked.

"Yes," Shinji replied, and listened to the affirmative answers of the other three pilots. EVA-01 stood about 50 meters behind Uriel, with EVA-05 an equal distance to the front. EVA-00 and EVA-02 were nearly 100 meters to the left and right of the creature, respectively.

"Okay then, kids," Misato said. "Go ahead and attack."

Asuka and Rei made the first move. They began charging towards Uriel, each focusing on arriving at the nearest hand at the same moment. When they were halfway there, Shinji and Kaoru began to charge. Rei and Asuka changed their attack vectors at the last moment, Rei pulling up and leaping backward to avoid a blow from the shield, and Asuka throwing herself sideways off the remains of a building to avoid the arc of the sword.

Shinji and Kaoru arrived just as Rei and Asuka were countering Uriel's attacks. Shinji leaped for the archangel's left hand, which held the shield, and Kaoru grabbed for the right.

"I've got something!" Shinji yelled as his left hand closed around the massive digits which held the shield. He stabbed into them recklessly, hoping to find the core.

"Me too!" Kaoru shouted as he shoved his progressive knife through the palm of the archangel's hand. But Uriel seemed immune to pain. He swung his shield arm around so that the edge of the shield came into sharp contact with the back of EVA-05's head. Kaoru cried out, but held on. "A little help, please?" he asked, but there was no time for anyone to assist him. Uriel swung the shield again, and this time it cracked EVA-05's neck.

"Kaoru!" Asuka screamed.

Kaoru's eyes dilated in shock, and then he fell mercifully unconscious. EVA-05 crumpled to the ground, leaving its knife embedded in Uriel's palm. A moment later, the entry plug ejected. Relieved of the excess weight, Uriel swung his sword towards Shinji's Eva. Shinji dropped free of the shield hand just in time, as the sword passed harmlessly through Uriel's forearm and bit into the ground. As it did, Shinji caught a glimpse of something sparkling on the hilt.

"Damn you!" Asuka screamed, and charged in on the sword arm again as Uriel turned to follow EVA-01. Her knife slashed into Uriel's palm, but the archangel barely seemed to notice. He swung his arm up against a building, crushing Asuka against it again and forcing her free. EVA-02 collapsed to the ground, and Uriel raised its sword.

EVA-01, however, had climbed back to its feet. Shinji made it vault in front of Uriel, grab onto the sword's crossguard, and hold the blade back from Asuka. Uriel and Shinji struggled while Asuka shook her head, muttering. Rei drove in on the other arm, slashing against the hand that held the shield. She wrapped one of her Eva's arms around Uriel's wrist and then began hacking at the archangel's fingers with her prog knife. Two of them fell to the ground and dissolved into blood-red foam.

"The fingers are vulnerable," she announced as Asuka at last managed to regain her footing. Uriel noticed the change and jerked backward quickly on its sword. Shinji, who had been straining to hold the sword back from Asuka, immediately overbalanced and fell forward. Instinctively, he ducked into a roll, hoping to dodge Uriel's follow-up attack.

Uriel, however, had retrained his focus on the red Eva. With its sword free from Shinji's grasp, the archangel swung the flaming blade around towards Asuka again. She tried to jump out of the way, but stumbled in the rubble of the building she'd crashed into earlier. Her fall made Uriel's horizontal attack miss, but the archangel quickly corrected the swing and brought the sword down. Asuka tried to vault forward out of the line of attack, but she moved too slowly and the sword sliced cleanly through her Eva's right arm at the elbow.

Already somewhat dazed, Asuka was completely stunned by the pain. Instinctively, she clutched at her arm as liters of fluid leaked through the red fingers of her Evangelion. Unable to even scream, she just sat open-mouthed in the LCL, her eyes wide and face twisted in pain.

Uriel grinned, his ruby eyes seeming to come to life with the fire of the sword. He raised his sword arm for one last, powerful strike. Shinji sprang for the archangel's hand, hoping to grab hold of the sword again, but he fell short just as Uriel swung. Asuka, frozen in pain, seemed not to notice. She just stayed kneeling in front of the ruby-winged giant, as if unwilling to avoid the certain doom that rushed towards her. At the last moment, however, EVA-00 dropped free of Uriel's shield arm and shoved EVA-02 out of the path of the blade.

Instead, the flaming sword cut all the way through EVA-00's torso.

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Misato almost screamed in horror as the top half of EVA-00 toppled to the ground, leaving only the legs standing. "Sever that neural link!" she shouted for the second time that day.

"Already done, but... it may be too late," Makoto said.

"What do you mean?"

"The neural circuits went into intense biofeedback loops when the sword touched the Eva. It's quite possible that Rei has experienced a level of **physiological** damage equal to that experienced by the Eva, or nearly so," Kouzou said, his face drawn. The glow of the monitor he was examining made his aging skin look like parchment.

"You mean..." Misato began, but was cut short.

"Blood has been detected in Rei's LCL the most likely source is the lungs," Makoto reported.

Misato turned back to the screen. "Shinji, Asuka," she called, "You don't have much time! You have to defeat Uriel as quickly as you can so we can get medical crews in to help Kaoru and Rei. Rei'll die if we don't get assistance to her soon!"

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"You _bastard_!" Shinji shouted and charged the massive archangel. Asuka, whose head had cleared when she hit the ground again, charged also. She reached the angel first, plunging her knife into its shield hand. Shinji had to jump back to avoid a downward swipe of the burning sword. At that moment, though, he again noticed the sparkle on the hilt, right in the middle of the crossguard.

"Scheisse!" Asuka cried weakly as Uriel slammed her Eva against the ground. She coughed deeply and her Eva collapsed, no longer moving. This, however, had distracted the angel long enough to allow Shinji to make a final charge. He ran straight at the angel as quickly as he could. Uriel did not have time to swing the flaming sword, so he just thrust it toward Shinji's Eva, creating an easy-to-avoid counter.

Shinji, however, had not calculated his attack very well. Unable to redirect or stop his Eva's momentum, he simply charged onto the sword, impaling his Eva on the flaming blade. Shinji felt a horrific burning pain in his chest and coughed a cloud of blood out into the LCL. Still, he did not stop or slow his advance. With grim determination on his face he charged up the blade and plunged his progressive knife into the strange feature of the crossguard: a large ruby.

Sparks shot out of the ruby as the prog knife began to penetrate it. Uriel began battering EVA-01's head with his shield, pounding even more pain into Shinji's skull. Still Shinji pressed forward, working his blade deeper and deeper into the ruby, until at last it emerged from the other side. In that moment, Uriel at last disappeared, the entire structure of his body dissolving into a huge deluge of crimson foam. Gushing fluid from its torso, EVA-01 fell to the ground.

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"Brainwaves cycling erratically!" Makoto shouted as his hands blazed over the keyboard at a blistering speed. "Unit One is experiencing a catastrophic biofeedback event!"

"Pilot blood pressure is decreasing rapidly! Pulse rate and brainwave intensity are falling!" Shigeru shouted, working desperately at his own station. "Magi predict massive organ failure within minutes!"

"Dammit! Where are the rescue crews?" Misato asked, her voice on the verge of shrieking.

"They're having trouble getting through the debris... they don't want to damage the trucks," Makoto reported a moment later

"I don't give a _damn_ how scratched up their precious trucks get!" Misato bellowed. "Their orders are to retrieve the pilots from the plugs immediately. All non-piloting personnel and equipment are expendable!"

"Major Katsuragi," Kouzou interjected calmly from the top level of the bridge. Misato turned to him, and he continued, "The crews are doing all they can. Please go down to the infirmary to begin arranging critical care for the pilots. Lieutenant Hyuga, give the Major an ETA on the rescue crews."

"Ten minutes," Makoto replied, looking almost frightened. He gnawed his lip for a moment, then continued, "There's a lot of rubble out there, sir."

"Well, it can't be helped now. Major?"

"Yes sir," Misato replied, then stalked out of the command center. She hated this empty sensation in her heart, this feeling of helplessness. As soon as she safely reached the hall, Misato slumped against the wall and took a deep breath. _I can't lose my focus now,_ she thought, _The children need me._ She steadied herself, then began walking towards the elevator. She struggled to hold back her tears as she pressed the button for the infirmary.

Asuka and Kaoru would come through this all right, after some rest. But even though she wasn't a doctor, Misato knew what the information displayed on Shinji's and Rei's monitors meant. _Shinji,_ she thought, _Will I have a chance to fulfill my promise to you?_

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Busy draining a can of beer, Misato almost didn't hear the quiet knock on her door. Nonetheless, the sound caught her attention enough that, when it repeated after she finished swallowing, she got up and opened the door. She expected to see Makoto or perhaps Hikari, so she was surprised to find Maya waiting for her on the other side.

"May I come in?" the young scientist asked.

Somewhat confused, Misato nodded silently and stood to the side. Maya entered and removed her shoes, then said, "Misato, I... I need your advice."

"What about?" Misato asked, leading Maya into the living room.

Maya looked around somewhat nervously and asked, "Is Asuka... is she here?"

"Yeah, but she's asleep in her room. They let her out of the hospital this morning, but she still looked and felt pretty awful. I made her go to bed almost as soon as we got back here. After we had some take-out of course. There's no way I could cook right now, not even instant."

Maya nodded, "I know. I wish I had been here when it happened. I know I'm not the best scientist in the world, but I can't help but think if I was in my place during the last battle and not in America with Gendo..." She shuddered slightly at the Commander's name.

Misato raised her eyebrows, made suspicious both by Maya's referring to the Commander as 'Gendo' and by her shivering at the name. With the Major, one beer didn't even take the edge off. She realized immediately that this might be one conversation she'd never wanted to have.

Maya, oblivious to Misato's suspicion continued, "Did you go see Shinji today?"

Misato nodded slowly. "It's hard to go, though. He's made so many sacrifices during this whole war, faced so much pain. I'd almost say I was relieved to see him in a coma so he wouldn't feel pain anymore, but... his face still looks so drawn and pale, like he's hurting even in that deep sleep," she said, slumping down onto the couch. "I almost can't bear to look at him like that, and neither can the kids. Kaoru always looks like he's about to cry when he's there, and Asuka can barely stay in the room for ten minutes before she gets scared and has to leave. I'd tell them not to visit Shinji, but I think that would probably make things even worse. If they didn't have each other to lean on, they'd probably have gone insane by now."

Maya sat calmly in a chair. "I wish I could help more," she said wistfully, "But in so many ways, I just can't replace Ritsuko."

Misato nodded, then recognized a strange undercurrent to Maya's words. Gazing intently at the young Lieutenant, she asked, "What did you want to talk to me about, Maya?"

"I... when Gen... the Commander and I were in America and heard the news about Uriel's attack, he didn't seem fazed at all. It was almost like he had expected it to happen, and had intentionally gotten us out of the country while it did. That made me suspicious, but I never would have guessed...

"When I got home, I found a note shoved under my door—and I recognized the handwriting as Ritsuko's. I don't know how she got it to me but, as I read I realized I... I was such an idiot!" Maya said, her voice nearly breaking. "I was so flattered when... he could be so caring...

Misato's jaw dropped, and she stared wide-eyed at Maya. After a moment, she collected herself enough to say, "You're having an affair with Gendo?"

"He just seemed so... tragic. At NERV, he acted so coldly towards everyone, but around me he was so kind and gentle. He told me... he said that his behavior was a shell to protect his heart." She sighed, and a tear rolled out of her eye. "I was a fool," she continued, "It was all a lie. It seems I took Ritsuko-sempai's position in more ways than one. Gendo was just trying to control me."

"That's what he does best," Misato said, her expression softening. "You can't blame yourself. More experienced women than you have fallen victim to him."

"That's not all," Maya said.

"What?"

"I tried to figure out what made him do it, what made him decide to... take me like he did," the younger woman replied. "I think... I think he did it because I got curious about Rei. He first... seduced me... shortly after I started asking him some questions about her."

Misato sat back and thought for a moment, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. "What exactly happened?" she eventually asked.

"One day I asked him why nobody had done a genetic screen on Rei, and suggested that I should do one. He told me to see him in his office at the end of the day. When I got there, he was looking at a picture of his family from back when they were all together and... he was crying. I immediately forgot about the whole idea," Maya explained. She dropped her head into her hands. "I've been such an idiot," she moaned.

Misato sat silently for a few moments, then responded, "Well, I think you know what you have to do now."

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The IV drip was whirring quietly, injecting another dose of needed nutrients into Shinji's bloodstream. The dimmed lights in the room made it easy for Asuka to read the display as it counted down the seconds until the injection ended. She stared listlessly as the numbers slowly decreased to zero, then sighed as the whirring stopped.

She pulled her chair closer to his bed, then relaxed into it. Very gently, she reached out and grabbed his hand. At first, she squeezed it tightly, but she quickly let off the pressure, as if she feared to injure the boy. The German girl sat staring at Shinji for several minutes, then began speaking very quietly:

"Shinji, I don't know if you can hear me... I don't even know if I want you to hear. I've been... I've been so confused ever since we faced Azrael. I've never let people know how I really feel about them. I guess I'm a little like you afraid to let people into my heart.

"Recently, I've felt... I've felt torn. I was so happy after I woke up. I had what I wanted: my life back, and success with the Eva. Hikari was happy, you were happy, Rei was a normal girl for a while...

"But last week I failed you. I failed you all, and now you're hurt and Rei's dying. I feel the same pain chasing me again, the pain that made me run away last time, and...

"I don't want to run away, Shinji. I want to stay here. I... I... I'm so afraid, though. I don't know how I can deal with that shadow... my mother... What I'm trying to say, Shinji, is... I... I need you... and... I love you. Please... please don't leave me."

The unconscious boy did not reply. Asuka sighed deeply. "I guess you'll never know how I feel," she said after a long pause. "I don't think I have... the strength... to tell you when you're awake."

She sat there for half an hour more, silently watching the boy sleep. Then she gently pulled back her hand, quietly pushed back her chair, and retreated from the silent room.

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"Asuka?" Makoto asked, causing the redhead to whirl around in surprise. She had just shut the door to Shinji's hospital room, and the sudden arrival of the technician had almost made her jump out of her skin. She took a moment to catch her breath. "Sorry," Makoto said. "I didn't mean to startle you."

Asuka finally calmed herself. "It's nothing. I've just been a little... edgy lately. I have a stressful job, you know," she said.

Makoto smiled ruefully. "Yeah, I've noticed," he said, "I wanted to give you something that I hope will make it a little less hard on you." He held out small DVD disc. "You know there are cameras in the rooms, right? And that they have sound equipment?" he asked.

Asuka nodded. She had carefully placed her bag in front of the microphone in Shinji's room before she talked to him.

Makoto placed the disc in her hand. "Any of the machines in the complex will play this back for you," he said, "I thought you'd want to have it, in case..." He trailed off into silence, then added, "Just watch it, okay?"

Asuka closed her hand around the tiny disc and put it into her bag. "I will," she said.

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**Magus Caspar: Access DENIED**

Ritsuko dropped her head into her hands. All her expertise and knowledge about the Magi had gotten her nowhere with this task. The files she wanted were too well protected by her mother's creations. Every program, every worm, every method of infiltration she had tried had failed against the stalwart defense of Ikari's private files. Frustrated, Ritsuko called up the passive interface.

When she worked at NERV, Ritsuko had often typed aimlessly in the passive interface as a kind of communication with her mother. Now she typed with a purpose, half-hoping (though she knew it was ridiculous) that the part of the supercomputers that had her mother's personality would hear and help.

Ritsuko typed:

**acc req dir \\Command\IkariG\Instrumentality\**

Ritsuko didn't expect it to work. The command "acc req" was just the most basic request, and called for the Magi to compare the user's credentials against the requirements to access the specified directory. With her hacked user identity, she hadn't managed to get the required credentials. Ritsuko received her first answer in moments.

**Magus Melchior: Access DENIED**

Ritsuko's fingers began to dance across the keyboard instantly, sending in her next message before Balthazar could respond.

**why are you protecting him, mom?**

The Magi responded quickly:

**Magus Balthazar: Access DENIED**

Ritsuko's fingers leapt to life again.

**dammit mom! he never loved either of us! he only wanted his wife back!**

After a moment, the Magi returned their third response.

**Magus Caspar: Considering...**

Ritsuko watched the screen for a moment, and then her eyes widened as she realized that Caspar was still considering.

**mom he killed you and he almost destroyed me! don't shield him!**

**Magus Caspar: Considering...**

**mom help me! please don't let him kill us both.**

**Magus Caspar: Considering...**

**Mom**

**Magus Caspar: Considering...**

**mom, I love you. please, save me. help me save the children.**

**Magus Caspar: Considering...**

**please, mother**

**Magus Caspar: Access**

Ritsuko held her breath, then almost sobbed as she saw the final decision.

**Magus Caspar: Access GRANTED**

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Asuka gave up on the doorbell and began pounding her fist on the door to Kaoru's apartment. "Dammit you jerk, where the hell are you?" she shouted.

When the door did not reply, she kicked it in frustration, ignoring the pain the action caused her foot. Still, the door had no reaction. Asuka slumped against it and slid down to the floor. _Where can he be?_ she silently demanded. She had scoured Tokyo-3 looking for the fallen angel, looking in or calling every place she had ever seen Kaoru even to the point of returning to Shinji's hospital room on the chance he might have gone there. Asuka sighed ruefully. All her efforts had been for nothing.

She looked down at the small disc that was still in her hand... the disc she had not let leave her palm since she pulled it from the player back at NERV. She stood and slowly walked down the hallway, ignoring the stares of a few tenants who had seen her angry display. Asuka walked into a waiting elevator and pressed the button for the ground floor, slumping against the wall as it began to descend. "Kaoru," she whispered, "Where are you when I need you?"

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The simple sign outside the small room perfectly expressed its nature. The sign read, "Interfaith Chapel," and the circular chamber only a few steps away certainly was. Ten marble panels spaced by simple Doric columns made up the walls. The generic mandalaic pattern inlaid in the white tiles of the floor could have suited any of a dozen religions. Soft fluorescent lights recessed in the tops of the columns created a diffuse white glow across the domed roof.

Kaoru knelt in the center of the circular room, his face turned towards the floor between his knees. "Father," he said quietly, "Give me guidance, I beg you. I am lost. I fear so deeply for Shinji's health, Asuka's mind, Rei's life... I know you have given me the pieces of the puzzle, but I cannot put them together. I have not the wisdom to see how the edges fit. Please, father, give me the inspiration..."

He sighed, then continued, "I know that the time approaches, Father, and that the Adversary comes with it. I shall prepare myself and the others for the challenge as best I can, but I know I have missed something important. I sense the edges of the key, but I do not yet see how it opens the lock. I pray you, guide me to that key, and I shall do what must be done. Thank you, Father. Allahu-akbar."

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The only light in the briefing room emanated from the screen located at its front a screen playing a single loop of video over and over. The sole person watching the display sat in her customary chair at the front of the room, her glistening eyes glued to the screen as if it were her only path to salvation. Occasionally she brushed tear-dampened strands of red hair out of her face.

The screen showed a dim hospital room, where a haggard-looking boy sat in a chair, holding the hand of a vacantly staring girl lying in a bed. A tear rolled down the boy's cheek as he quietly said, "I'm so sorry Asuka. I... I'm useless. Everyone hates me. But... But I... I... I l... love **you."**


	12. NGE: AOTF 10

**NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: ASCENT OF THE FALLEN**

**Part Ten:**

By Sparky Clarkson

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Maya grunted as she nearly tripped over a stool. She froze for a moment, listening intently in the darkened lab for the sound of the footsteps she expected. When they did not come, she sighed and continued down the narrow aisle between the lab benches. It would have been easier for her to move had she turned on the light, but she dared not risk alerting any NERV employee to her presence in this remote lab. Now aware of Commander Ikari's true nature, Maya found herself becoming suspicious of everyone she met in the hallway seeing Gendo's cold eyes behind every smile, hearing his grim voice in every joke.

Finally reaching the end of the lab, Maya turned right and opened a door, slipping quietly into the next room. She shut the door, then flipped on the light switch to reveal a small cubicle with three workstations in it. She knew this room well this lab had been her first assignment at NERV, right after she had finished her Ph.D. three years earlier. Maya seated herself at one of the computers and turned it on. The unit was old, but it would be powerful enough for her purposes.

Maya waited nervously as the computer warmed up, then immediately called up the passive interface. She knew that the genomes of all the pilots had been sequenced, and had an idea of where that data was stored. She knew, though, that she did not have enough clearance to get to them. "Well, Akagi-sempai did teach me," Maya muttered, "Hopefully, that will be enough."

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Ritsuko ground out her cigarette in the ashtray and leaned back in her chair. With a quick ripple of her fingers over the keyboard, she sent her message coursing down the cables to the Magi, where it would end up in Kouzou's mailbox. She had not bothered to encrypt the signal at this late time, it hardly mattered whether Gendo discovered their subterfuge or not.

Ritsuko sighed quietly and stretched. She simultaneously felt a craving for more coffee and a sourness in her stomach that indicated she'd had too much of the acidic beverage already. She'd run herself ragged the past few days, trying to assimilate the data she'd found in Gendo's files and form some kind of cogent response.

Even in his maximum security directory, Gendo had compartmentalized his information according to some maddening organizational scheme she still hadn't quite figured out. It was impossible to tell which files would contain vital data and which would be design specs for a new electric trolley for Central Dogma. Ritsuko had warned the JIA that Gendo would move soon, but at the time she had not been able to tell them what his move would be. Now that she knew, it was too late to do anything but alert Fuyutsuki and hope he managed to somehow avert the oncoming catastrophe.

Ritsuko shook her head and leaned forward again. She had to let the JIA know what was about to happen anyway. Perhaps they could mobilize some units in the city...

...that was an idle hope, though. _Gendo's probably been digging in ever since the archangels started appearing,_ she thought as she started to type up a message for the Director of Intelligence.

On a sudden impulse, she switched windows and slid into the Magi's passive interface. With a few keystrokes she implemented a monitoring program and went back to typing the letter. _At least I'll know when someone is trying to get into the restricted files,_ Ritsuko thought, _So if Gendo starts moving early, I might get some advance warning._

She hammered out a few lines of her report, then froze in fear as the computer beeped. The monitoring window came to the top of the layered set, and she quickly took in the message, relaxing as she saw the ID of the person trying to worm her way into a forbidden area. "Well," she whispered, "Seems you got the message. I suppose I can give you a hand."

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Maya gaped as the Magi granted her access to the directory that held the pilots' genetic maps. She hadn't even done anything yet! _Well, now's no time to be looking a gift horse in the mouth,_ Maya thought. _If it's a trap, I'm already caught, and if not, it's too good an opportunity to pass up._

Maya hit a few keys and called up a program named "Anacom" on her machine the principal reason she had chosen this lab. Anacom took any gene map loaded into it and compared it to maps stored in the Magi's databases. Then it could analyze the map for almost any factor the researcher wanted. Maya's first work at NERV had been to use Anacom to compare DNA from Adam with known species.

Maya opened Rei's gene map into Anacom and entered the command to begin analysis, telling the program to start with human isomorphs. That would probably cut the run time down to two minutes or so to find a good match, then another ten to analyze the polymorphisms. With luck, Maya could get out of the lab quickly enough that nobody would note her absence from her usual post—or her activities on the Magi.

Maya's hopes started to evaporate, however, as one minute turned into five. Maya knew that was enough time to run comparisons with all of the human isomorphs in the Magi database. Still, the program ran, searching ever further from the human genome to find a match...

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Asuka leaned up against the hospital wall, drumming her fingers rapidly on the grey-painted sheetrock as she waited outside of Shinji's hospital room. After several minutes, she realized what she was doing and self-consciously pulled her hands away from the wall. This, however, only brought them in front of her, where she could wring them together. Once a she had done this for a few moments, she went back to drumming. That, at least, could be taken as simple impatience, and not the heart-squeezing anxiety she really felt.

_What's taking them so long?_ she wondered as she stared at the door, painted a sickly pastel blue to differentiate it from the weary grey of the walls. In the half-hour since she had arrived, she had memorized every square inch of that portal. She had grown to know the pattern of black marks near the bottom of the door, where people had used their shoes to hold it open, and the faint scratches near the middle where equipment stands had gouged away the paint. Her gaze traveled once again over the numerals embossed in white at eye level, tracing the curves and lines without really attaching them to the number they created.

After about five more minutes, the door to room 343 opened and Dr. Watanabe walked out, followed by a nurse and two interns. The doctor was cleaning his glasses with a handkerchief, his eyes squinting in a way that might have reflected concern, or just an effort to see without their usual assistance

Asuka stepped forward and intercepted him as he was about to head down the hallway. "What's going on?" she demanded, "Can I see him?"

"Oh, Asuka," the doctor said, looking up from his cleaning. He looked tired and somewhat frayed, as if he'd been working extra hours. "I almost didn't see you there," he continued, pausing as the other medical workers continued towards their destination. "Shinji's condition hasn't changed noticeably, but it will be a while before we know for sure whether this last treatment worked or not. You can go in and see him if you like, but I have to get moving. Rei's in the same boat as Shinji, you know."

Asuka stiffened briefly at this reminder of her failure, but only nodded in reply. "I... I understand. Tell her hi for me, okay?"

Toshio smiled warmly and nodded. "I certainly will, Asuka. Take care of yourself," he replied, then turned and followed his entourage down the hall. His lanky legs quickly carried him to the other medics.

Asuka turned back to the door and opened it, quickly slipping into the dim room. Shinji lay still in the narrow bed, his face drawn with pain. Next to his bed, an I.V. motor whirred away, automatically administering the nutrients that kept him alive and the medication that Dr. Watanabe hoped would help him wake up.

The room had the usual two chairs in addition to the bed, but Asuka didn't move towards either of them. Instead, she quietly closed the door behind her, then leaned up against it. Standing with her back against the door, she watched Shinji sleep for a while, then whispered, "We've both been so stupid."

Shinji shifted slightly in the bed, causing Asuka's heart to race for a moment, but he quickly lapsed back into total stillness. She sagged against the door, supporting almost all her weight on it, as she whispered, "We wasted so much time, and now... will we ever have the chance to do things the right way?"

Asuka slowly approached Shinji's bed, reaching down when she got there to take hold of his hand. Seconds ticked away in the tomb-silent room before Asuka finally said, "I can't lose you now, Shinji... please wake up." She stood watching his unmoving form as tears started to gather in his eyes. _I'm just as selfish as ever,_ she thought as she gazed at him. _I want him to wake up for my sake, when I'm not even sure... Do I have a right to ask for him if I'm just going to hurt him again? At least now he's at peace..._

_Asuka opened the door just a crack so that she could see the two men talking in the sitting room. The darkness of the hall ensured that she wouldn't be seen while she eavesdropped._

_Her father ran a hand through his blonde hair and took a slow sip of the golden wine in his glass. "I'm not saying I'm happy about it," he said as he leaned back in his chair, "But perhaps it's for the best that it ended. Towards the end there, you could almost see the pain in her eyes while she tried to understand the world. It's better for her, better for everyone."_

_The darkly-dressed man seated in the other chair nodded and adjusted his amber-tinted glasses. "And the child?" he asked, his voice cold and uncaring._

_"Well, for Asuka's sake I wish Kyoko had lived... but at least now Kyoko's at peace."_

Asuka staggered back from the bed, half sobbing, "What am I thinking?" _Can I really be so callous as to want Shinji's death so my life will be simpler?_ she wondered as she stepped further back. She felt cool metal under her hands and realized she'd retreated all the way to the door. "I'm worthless," she moaned, "I'm just like my father... just like yours."

Asuka almost jumped as the door opened behind her. She spun around, the motion causing some of the moisture in her eyes to spill out. The open door admitted an exhausted-looking Kaoru, who instantly locked his eyes on Asuka's.

"You have been crying," Kaoru said softly, stepping towards the redhead as he quietly closed the door. He started to reach towards her face, as if to brush the teardrops away, but he stopped halfway through the motion.

Asuka noticed his red-rimmed eyes, and the faint worry lines that seemed to have appeared overnight. "You've been crying, too," she responded quietly. Her own hands crept forward, but she forced them to stay at her sides.

Kaoru nodded slowly, his frown deepening. After a moment he asked, "What is wrong, Asuka? Is something wrong with Shinji?"

Asuka shook her head, feeling new tears creeping into her eyes. "No," she whispered, her voice almost cracking with her emotional strain, "I'm the problem." She tried to run out of the room past Kaoru, but he stepped into her path. As she collided with him, the strength went out of Asuka and she collapsed against the fallen angel's chest.

"I'm so worried," she moaned, clinging tightly to Kaoru's shirt, "And I don't know how I feel anymore..."

Kaoru raised his arms to protectively encircle the girl. "I understand," he whispered, supporting her against his chest. "I have been... confused also. "

"About what?" Asuka asked.

"My feelings for you, and... for Shinji," Kaoru quietly replied.

"I think we may have the same problem," Asuka said, fighting back a new wave of tears.

Kaoru nodded slowly, gazing steadily at the redhead. "It is hard for you to tell me this," he noted.

"I... I'm not used to sharing how I feel," Asuka replied. "Two days ago, I probably couldn't have told you that, but..."

"But you found out that Shinji loved you," Kaoru finished.

Her voice barely above a whisper, Asuka asked, "You knew? He told you?"

Kaoru smiled sadly, saying, "He could never find the strength to tell you himself. He feared your reaction."

Asuka gave out a ragged moan and completely slumped against the fallen angel. She felt his arms tighten around her as she threatened to fall to the floor. "I've been so stupid," she gasped, "I always pushed him away... I was too afraid to let anyone in where I could get hurt... and all along we could have healed each other if we'd only..."

"Shh," Kaoru soothed, gently rubbing his hand up and down her back. "There is still time, Asuka. Shinji will wake up, and you can start over, the right way."

"But..." Asuka protested.

Kaoru cut her off. "But there is that other boy, is there not?" he asked.

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Maya almost jumped as the computer beeped at her. She cursed herself briefly for losing her focus at such a critical time, quickly turning her attention to the monitor. She shook the mouse, bringing the screen to life, and then froze as she saw the program's output.

**Results for Entity: Ayanami Rei  
No isomorphic match found  
Nearest Neighbors ( Homology)  
Entity: ADAM (65)  
Entity: LILITH (53)  
Strain: Homo Sapiens Sapiens AJ (51)  
Strain: Homo Sapiens Sapiens AC (51)**

"This can't be right," Maya muttered under her breath. "There's no way she can be closer to Adam than Lilith." When she'd had her job here before, the results had always been the same. No species, not even humans, had greater than 20 sequence homology with Adam. Yet here she had a blatant contradiction of that rule.

"Probably a glitch in the program," Maya muttered to herself, but she mentally added, _Or perhaps this is why Gendo wanted to keep me from looking._ She called up a new search. _Only one way to find out,_ she thought as she directed the program to compare mitochondrial DNA for all pilots, ADAM, and Lilith. The results would reveal Rei's lineage for certain.

She initialized the comparison engine, then leaned back in her chair. This would take far less time than the first search, because she only had a few sequences to investigate. She glanced at her watch. _A good thing, too,_ she thought, _I've got duty in less than an hour._

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"That's the whole problem," Asuka agreed. "I care about both of you, and I... I feel like I'm toying with both of you. I... I can't let myself betray either of you, but I don't know how to avoid it."

Kaoru gently pulled Asuka back from his chest. She looked up, afraid to meet his gaze, but at the same time longing to see acceptance in it. The grey-haired boy smiled at her and said, "I understand... I love you too, but I do not know how to characterize my feelings. All these different kinds of love are still so new to me... they seem... artificial... somehow."

"But what can I do? How can I choose one of you without hurting the other?"

"Do not worry," Kaoru said, pulling her closer for a moment. "Shinji and I both love you, and we love one another also. If you care for both of us, but ultimately choose one, the other will understand."

Asuka shook her head. "That can't work," she said, "If you love me like you say, then whoever I don't choose will still get hurt."

"Pain is a part of life," Kaoru responded, "It is the joy of loving others, and feeling their love for you, that makes the pain worthwhile. I know you can only choose one of us as your mate. That does not mean you cannot still love the other. There will be pain, yes... but we can overcome it, because we love each other."

Asuka looked up into Kaoru's eyes. "I..." she said, starting to protest, but trailed off. After a moment, she straightened slightly and hugged the fallen angel as tightly as she could. "Thank you," she said at last. "For everything."

When she felt collected again, Asuka stepped back from Kaoru and straightened her dress. "I guess I should be going," she said quietly.

"Do you not want to wait for Shinji to wake up?" Kaoru asked, smiling.

Asuka turned back towards the bed and saw that Shinji had begun to toss and turn. In a few quick steps she had reached his side, with Kaoru just behind. The red-haired girl very gently reached down and grasped Shinji's hand, but even that light touch seemed to jolt the boy to consciousness. His eyes flew open, staring blankly out into the dim room until they focused on Asuka.

With an almost convulsive movement, Shinji bolted upright in the bed and wrapped his arms around Asuka. Pressing his cheek against hers, he murmured, "You're all right, you're all right... oh God, I was so worried..." Suddenly, he realized what he was doing and released her, letting his arms fall into his lap. "I... I'm sorry," he said sheepishly, staring down at his hands. "I just... I had such terrible dreams... nightmares... about the battle. I... I..." he said, trailing off at the end.

Asuka reached out and placed a hand underneath Shinji's chin, raising it so she could see into his midnight-blue eyes. "Don't apologize, Shinji," she whispered, "Not for this."

Shinji took a deep breath, and then calmly reached out to hug Asuka again. She sat next to him on the bed, wrapping her own arms around her roommate. "Asuka," he whispered, "I... I've been a coward."

"Don't say that, Shinji. It's not true, no matter how many times I've said it."

"Yes it is... I've been afraid to tell you something... something you need to know. I... I know you may not feel the same way about me, but... you make my life complete in a way nobody else does. I never told you because I thought... I thought you might get mad and leave, and I knew I couldn't face life without you again. I... I love you, Asuka. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

Asuka shifted so that she was eye to eye with Shinji. "Idiot," she whispered, "I love you, too." With that, she leaned forward and briefly pressed her lips against his. Pulling him tightly against her, she said, "I'm the one who owes you an apology... I was so cruel to you from the moment I got here. I'm amazed you don't hate me."

"I don't... I could never..." Shinji replied, but Asuka shook her head.

"You should have. For a while, I hated you... or I thought I did. I think... I think I saw how much you could mean to me. It scared me, and I tried to fight it," Asuka said. She took a deep breath, then continued, "I'm still a little afraid... I'm so worried that I'll hurt you, or Kaoru. It frightens me how much you both need me... and how much I need you. I'm still not sure where my heart will lead me, but I want you to know no matter what happens, I love you."

After a few moments, the two teenagers relaxed their holds on each other. Asuka kissed Shinji on the cheek and stood, straightening out her dress as she stepped back from the bed. "I should go tell Misato you're up," she said, not moving towards the door. "She's been worried sick about you."

Shinji smiled slightly, saying, "Yeah... I'd like her to know I'm all right."

Asuka nodded. "All right, then. I'll be back in a bit," she replied, then turned and walked to the door. As she opened it to step out, she looked back towards the two boys and said, "Thank you... both of you."

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Misato suddenly realized she had been staring at the ramen cup for nearly three minutes. With a sigh, she tossed it into her shopping basket and continued down the aisle. She'd had difficulty concentrating all day Maya's troubling revelations the day before had kept creeping into her mind, disrupting any line of thought Misato was on.

Of course, Maya's secrets were only one factor contributing to Misato's distress. Alone, the technician's affair with Gendo probably wouldn't have been so worrisome, even with the deep suspicion Misato had towards her commander. Its conjunction with the injuries Shinji and Rei had suffered, and the perilous emotional states of Asuka and Kaoru, however, was easily enough to drive Misato to distraction. The fact that she'd been barred from seeing Rei at all since the accident was the final straw. Misato had barely gotten to the store without an accident; even her usual reckless driving had never caused so many close calls before.

A dull pain from her mouth drew Misato's attention to the fact that she had been gnawing on her lower lip for the past few moments as she reviewed her troubles. She smiled, remembering how many times she'd seen a worried Makoto do the same thing in Central Dogma during a battle. _I guess what Kaoru said is right,_ she thought as she headed towards the beer cooler in the back of the store, _We really do start to resemble the people we love._ She chuckled as she tossed a six pack into her basket, thinking, _I wonder if I'll start acting like the kids soon._

Reminded of her charges, Misato decided to check her voice mail, in case the doctors had called to give her any updates about the children. She set her grocery basket on the floor and pulled her phone from its place at her hip. When she flipped it open, however, she saw that the battery had died. _Strange,_ she mused, _I could have sworn I recharged it last night... I guess I must have just forgotten._ She slid the phone back into its case and retrieved the basket. "Oh well," she muttered, "I'll just have to call in when I get home. I doubt anything important has happened, anyway."

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"That's funny," Asuka mumbled as she dropped the phone back into its cradle, "It didn't even ring." She nodded to the nurse at the station, then turned towards the elevators. "I guess I should go home and wait for her," Asuka muttered as she punched the button to summon the lift. "She's probably shopping or something."

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The simple apartment had never improved from its sorry state. Unopened letters poured out of the overburdened mail slot, and papers lay strewn wildly about the room, covering the unmade bed, dresser, and floor with careless equality. The pale grey linoleum floor tiles hid beneath a brown crust of grime, and green spots of mildew marred the ceramic surfaces of the bathroom.

"You offered her so little, Ikari. I wonder why she never abandoned you," said the old man as he stood just inside the unlocked door. Wisely deciding to keep his shoes on, he carefully stepped into the cluttered apartment, ignoring the odors wafting from the kitchenette and the sputtering mini-fridge. His ebony cane tapped the tiles only lightly, leaving no impression on the dirt with its hoof-shaped foot.

Taking a longer look around the room, the old man sneered, "In such opulence do His servants live. _Allahu-akbar_ indeed." With a sweep of his arthritic hand he overturned the plain mattress, watching as the cheap synthetic padding spilled out of it onto the floor. "Such devotion will make my task far more difficult," the old man muttered angrily as he began to stalk out of the apartment.

Turning, the old man caught a glint of sunlight reflecting from something on the floor. He bent down to grab the reflective object, and lifted Gendo Ikari's glasses from the floor. Holding them in front of his visor, the intruder noticed the prominent cracks in the plain lenses—some old and filled with grime, others newer and clean. The old man chuckled to himself as he let the shattered lenses fall to the floor. "Perhaps the strings are broken after all," he whispered, then laughed quietly and added, "And Ikari will dance to my song, strings or no."

The old man left the small room as carefully has he had entered, turning back as he reached the door. "This too will be mine," he muttered, then left.

The lengthening shadows had no reply.

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The workstation beeped again, and Maya turned away from the door. She'd heard sounds in the lab only a second ago, and her heart was still pounding loudly in her chest. Hoping the noise had come from one of the automated machines, she turned back to the computer and examined the output.

**MITOCHONDRIAL DNA ASSESSMENT  
REFERENCE SEQUENCE: Ayanami Rei  
EXACT MATCHES FOUND:  
Entity: ADAM  
Entity: LILITH  
Entity: Ikari Shinji  
Entity: Ikari Yui  
Entity: Nagisa Kaoru**

"You took quite a risk, Lt. Ibuki," a voice behind Maya said as she read the last line. The young scientist gasped and spun around, awkwardly falling against the workstation. "You should feel lucky that I'm on your side," the voice continued as Kouzou stepped out of the shadows in front of her.

"Vice-Commander!" Maya gasped, nearly collapsing onto the table, "You scared me to death!"

"I apologize," the old man replied, motioning Maya away from the monitor. He leaned down and inspected the results from the program. After a moment, he turned to Maya and said, "This is what Gendo tried to hide?"

Maya nodded, her heart still thumping from the shock of being found. "They they're all from the same family. One of them may even be the mother of the rest," she answered, after taking a deep breath to try and calm her nerves.

Kouzou stood and started to leave the room. "Report to Central Dogma for your shift, Lieutenant... as soon as you erase all evidence of your activities here. Have Lt. Hyuga help you contact Major Katsuragi... we need the whole staff on hand for what's coming."

"What _is_ coming, Vice-Commander?" Maya asked as she reached over and started to clear the workstation's memory.

"The end, Lieutenant."

"The end of what?"

"Unless we are prepared, mankind."

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"You sure know how to pick 'em, Kensuke," Touji said as the train pulled into the main Tokyo-3 terminal. As the four children stood and waited for the doors to open, he continued. "Five minutes from the city, and you wouldn't know it from the light we could see everything!"

"Thanks!" the bespectacled youth replied, shifting his telescope case on his shoulder. "We got really lucky, though. The alignment of the planets, the fact that the impact occurred right after sundown... it's almost like we were meant to see it."

"Well, like Touji said, you still picked a good spot. We all liked it. Right, Anita?"

The small girl who had been clinging tightly to Touji's hand nodded vigorously, saying, "Yeah! It was pretty!"

Touji grinned and lifted his sister up to his shoulders as they left the station. "It's not every day you get to see a comet collide with a planet. Now the Martians know how we felt, I guess."

"Thank goodness for modern optics," Kensuke said. "Twenty years ago you'd be lucky to see something like that from the ground at all."

"Well, where to now?" Touji asked as the children started to make their way down the street. _Really, I don't care,_ Touji thought as he glanced at Hikari. Anita shifted on his shoulders and the one-time athlete's smile widened. _I'm with the two most wonderful girls on the planet. Anywhere I'm with them is perfect._

"I think we should go to the shopping district," Hikari said, smiling back at her boyfriend. "We'll get some get-well presents for Shinji and Rei."

The mention of the two injured children darkened Touji's mood for a moment. "I wish they'd let us see them," he growled. "They need their friends at a time like this."

Kensuke stopped dead at those words, going a little pale, but Hikari didn't seem to notice. "I know," she agreed, "but it's not just us. Asuka told me the other day that nobody's been allowed to see Rei except the doctors."

Anita apparently noticed Kensuke's change of mood, because she suddenly asked, "Are you okay, Ken-kun?" She squirmed slightly and Touji acknowledged the hint by setting her down. The little girl ran over to the military nut, her short hair bouncing with her exaggerated steps. "I'll hold your hand if it makes you feel better," she promised.

Kensuke smiled weakly and shook himself. "I... it's nothing," he said. He reached towards the little girl, saying "I'll hold your hand anyway, though."

Anita laughed cheerily and seized Kensuke's arm, starting to pull him towards a window full of toys. Hikari wrapped an arm of her own around Touji and began to follow them, saying "Kensuke may have just bitten off more than he can chew."

"I'll bet," Touji said, by now accustomed to his sister's occasional fits of hyperactivity. He chuckled slightly as he saw his camouflage-wearing friend pretending to be interested in a window full of dolls. Touji slowed, though, as he noticed an old man walking along the sidewalk nearby.

Unlike the other pedestrians, who constantly wove around each other, paused to look in the store windows, or stopped to greet old friends, the aging gaijin _strolled_ along the sidewalk, as if the bustle around him did not exist. His eyes hidden by a strange visor, he cut through the throng like a knife the crowd opened up before him and closed behind him, never impeding his progress. The goat's hoof at the foot of his ebony cane tapped the ground lightly as he walked, as if the gnarled hand that clenched the delicately carved dragon at its top did so more out of affectation than need for support.

Touji shrugged and started to turn away, but froze, startled, when the gaijin's head snapped around to gaze directly at the one-time athlete. Touji's feet seemed rooted to the ground for a moment, but when the old man spoke to him, he hurried towards the toy store as quickly as he could.

For when the old man's lips had moved, Touji had heard the papery voice as if the speaker stood right next to him instead of across a crowded street. And though the now-sinister gaijin said only one word, it had chilled the boy to his core.

The old man had sneered, "Fourth."

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"I just don't understand it!" Maya shouted, slamming her hand down on the console. After taking a few deep breaths to calm herself, she cut off the call for what seemed like the hundredth time.

"Still not able to get through?" Makoto asked.

"I can't even get it to ring! I've tried her cell phone, her home phone, even _my_ home phone just to check if anything's working. Nothing's gotten through!"

Makoto shook his head and returned his gaze to the diagnostics screen he had been inspecting. "It's the strangest thing," he commented. "According to the Magi, nothing's wrong, but I can't seem to get anything useful from the external feeds just static. It's like they're seeing something we don't."

"Well, we better start seeing the same thing soon... I have a feeling that if we don't there'll be Hell to pay."

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"I'm glad it's over," Shinji said, sitting up on the edge of his bed.

"What is over?"

"The hiding," Shinji said, "Disguising how I felt because I was afraid. I'm glad that's over. Since I've come here, everything bad in my life has started changing, and I think I'm at the end of that, the start of a better life."

"I am happy for you," Kaoru replied, smiling. "You deserve that."

Shinji grinned back at his friend for a moment, then tentatively stretched his arms. "I don't feel as weak as usual," he commented, then added, "which is odd, because I've been in here for what, two weeks?"

Kaoru nodded. "The doctors told me that they decided to try stimulating our muscles to prevent atrophy while we were ill. I also felt unusually strong when I awoke."

Shinji slid down from the bed and walked over to the small closet. He stopped with his hand on the door and asked, "Misato didn't try to do the laundry again, did she?"

Kaoru laughed quietly and replied, "No. Hyuga-san took care of the chores."

"That's good," Shinji replied. He reached into the closet, but stopped again when the door to the room opened to reveal the Vice-Commander. The old man paused in the doorway for a moment, then stepped in.

"It's good you're awake, Shinji-kun," Fuyutsuki said, the severe set of his face softening for a moment.

"Why are you here... sir?" Shinji asked. The Vice-Commander had never seemed particularly concerned about him before. "Does my... father... want to see me?"

Fuyutsuki shook his head. "I came to see you on my own, Shinji. Tonight many things may happen tonight. I thought that... in case I had no other chance, I should tell you something."

Shinji let the closet door close. "What"

"When your mother got into the Eva that day, she made a great sacrifice so that you would have a future. I just needed to tell you, as someone who knew her well, that she would be proud of you."

Shinji tried to speak, but found that his throat had constricted around the words, holding them inside.

The Vice-Commander looked uncomfortable for a moment, then cleared his throat. "I have to leave now, Shinji... I'm needed to deal with a delicate situation, one that could well get out of hand before this night is over. Though I'd rather it not be so, you may be needed to help. Whatever happens tonight, I want you to trust yourself to do the right thing. In spite of your father, your past... in spite of everything... you've become a good person. In the end, I think that will be all you need."

With that, the Vice-Commander turned and left the room, leaving Shinji staring slack-mouthed at the door.

"Shinji-kun? Are you all right?" Kaoru asked, rising from the place he'd taken in a chair.

"She died..." Shinji finally whispered.

"Shinji?"

"She died... for me..."

"What happened, Shinji?" Kaoru asked, finally grabbing hold of Shinji's shoulders.

The blue-eyed boy allowed himself to collapse against the fallen angel, murmuring, "My mom... died inside Eva... I never knew why she..."

"Shinji..."

"She... the Eva... absorbed her, like it did me... only she didn't escape."

Kaoru tensed up instantly, and Shinji almost staggered back, surprised by his friend's sudden change in attitude. Blinking to clear the tears away from his eyes, Shinji turned towards his friend.

Kaoru's milky skin had somehow gotten paler, seeming almost transparent. His eyes were wide, and he trembled slightly. After a moment, he shook his head and gasped, "You were absorbed by the Eva? That... that is not possible!"

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Misato slid her card through the slot on the door and gracelessly kicked the door open, trying to maintain a grip on the ten or so bags she had carried up with her. As the group of bags threatened to get out of hand, Asuka appeared just inside the apartment and grabbed one of them, lessening her guardian's load.

"Well, I can guess where you've been," Asuka commented as she carried her bag to the kitchen, setting it carelessly down on the table. "I've been trying to get a hold of you for hours."

"Sorry," Misato replied, shrugging out of her jacket and placing it on a chair, "My cell phone batteries died about halfway through my shopping trip. What did you need me for?"

Asuka smiled and said, "Shinji's awake."

"Really!" Misato shouted, then dove for the phone. She quickly tapped in the number for Shinji's room in the infirmary, then waited for him to pick up.

The phone on the other end didn't even ring.

Misato waited for nearly a minute, then slowly returned the handset to its cradle. _Don't panic,_ she told herself, _It's probably just a little glitch or outage..._ But even as she turned away from the phone, Misato had a vision of the orange text she had read on the Magi screens: text that inextricably linked the Commander to the men who had destroyed her world.

"You won't do it again," she muttered, then grabbed her jacket off the chair. "Come on Asuka!" she called, "We're going to HQ."

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Kouzou had not turned the lights up when he entered the room. His reflective mood and the business it would hopefully precede were better suited to the darkness. He leaned back in the uncomfortable chair, calmly eyeing the frail shape resting on the bed. After a moment, he shifted his gaze to the smaller, sturdier form at rest on the side table.

His hand trembling in revulsion, he dragged his fingers along the barrel, feeling the black matte surface with all the eagerness of a man touching a corpse. He shook his head and stood, trying to walk off the memory the firearm had elicited.

_Kouzou stared at the gun for several moments, noting the warmth of the black barrel, the slight sulfuric smell, the coolness of the checkered grip. Then, with a frown of disgust, he threw the recently-fired weapon down onto the lifeless body of Kaji Ryouji._

_I shouldn't hate the gun,_ Kouzou thought, crossing his hands behind his back, _It is only a tool: neither good nor evil but for the will of the man wielding it._ He turned his gaze towards the girl on the bed. _And yet,_ he mused as Rei slept motionlessly, _The creator's own evil can imprint itself upon the tool. Made to kill a man, or made to kill mankind... both indict the maker. What drove me to help construct... it? her? I no longer know what to say._

For a moment, in the darkness, Kouzou could see another face on the albino girl, a face somewhat older, but made more beautiful by its warmth. _I guess I am a fool asking questions when I already know the answers. Gendo's selfishness, my selfishness... we wanted the same thing, though I never suspected how costly it would be. I never understood the price a resurrection would exact._ He glanced back towards the gun, only a few steps away should he need it, and frowned. "Now I know all too well."

Kouzou leaned forward on the railing of the hospital bed, partially balancing himself with his hands. He could feel them trembling, their grip made insecure by his self-disgust. "Who will wield you, Rei? Can anyone wrest you from Gendo? Can I?"

Kouzou closed his eyes momentarily, trying to prepare himself for the dangerous task ahead. After a few deep breaths he felt ready to face the future. He straightened to turn away from the bed, but Rei's face caught his attention. Though her expression had been perfectly neutral only moments before, the corners of Rei's mouth had now turned upwards in a slight smile.

"Can the weapon wield itself?" Kouzou quietly asked.

Any answer was forestalled as the door slid open.

"I did not expect you to be here, Kouzou," Gendo said quietly, his words slow and precise.

Kouzou turned slowly, pretending not to hear the chill in his superior's voice and replied, "You aren't the only one who cares about her, Gendo."

Gendo snorted. "She is only a tool, Kouzou. A pawn to advance the plan."

"Is that all she means to you? All she meant?"

Kouzou's effort produced a rewarding flash of anger in Gendo's expression, but the Commander quickly brought himself back under control. He replied, "Perhaps she meant more, once. Perhaps. But it was only Yui's memory I'm sure of that now."

"You weren't sure before?"

Gendo ignored the response, instead saying, "It's too bad I didn't know where you were. You missed quite a show."

Caught off guard by the sudden change in topic, Kouzou could only muster, "Eh?"

"Hojevah-Mahbra 4 collided with Mars less than an hour ago," Gendo said, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket. Kouzou raised an eyebrow at the uncharacteristic gesture, but knew he couldn't respond. He had to keep the conversation going until he had a chance.

"Is that so? I never knew you cared for astronomy, Gendo. A new hobby, perhaps?"

Gendo's lips curled slightly upward in a sly smile. "An old one, actually," he replied. "Man has always watched the stars, hoping to find signs of the future in light from the past. Superstition, mostly, but many superstitions have a basis in reality. God occasionally heralds his greater deeds with signs in the heavens."

"I suppose that _would_ fit with your obsession for prediction," Kouzou said, frowning. The gun was so close...

"Indeed. The stars have told me that my wait has ended."

Kouzou stiffened. The gun now seemed much too far away. "Gendo, I know what you plan to do," he calmly said.

"Do you?"

"I also know that there are alternatives. You could change the course..."

"But I will not."

"I know," Kouzou admitted. _If only I could use the tools as well as he can,_ the professor thought, eyeing the impotent weapon on the end table.

Gendo pulled his hands out of his pockets, and Kouzou instantly saw that one of them held a silenced pistol. "I can't leave any loose ends, Kouzou," Gendo said, his voice smug, "Forgive me, old friend."

Kouzou stared into Gendo's eyes, and for a moment he almost thought he could see the emotions hidden behind the orange lenses. The old professor stood as straight as he could, knowing he could never reach his own pistol, and fired the only shot he had left. He took a deep breath, and said, "No."

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The darkness seethed, whirling with the tortured movement of malevolent shadow-draped shapes. The boiling gloom constantly brushed up against Rei's unprotected skin, a thousand unwanted caresses from scabrous hands. The crimson-eyed girl floated frozen in that blackness, powerless to defend herself against the grasping demons of her subconscious mind.

Rei no longer knew how long she had been the victim of this assault. It seemed almost timeless, a pressure on the borders of her being that had neither beginning nor end. Despite the weariness of her spirit, though, Rei felt something inside her that pressed her to endure. She almost felt as if she were gaining strength from a connection of some kind, though to whom or what she could not fathom.

Even so, she felt herself weakening, fading away from the fatigue of facing her violation. The connection that brought her strength seemed weakened and tenuous, and Rei expected it to disappear completely soon. She did not know if she could hold to existence after that. She did not even know if she wanted to.

Suddenly, a flash of light appeared directly in front of her and a glowing ocean of particles began moving away from the center of her visual field.

Rei felt charged by a sudden burst of energy as the tenuous connection transformed from a mere thread into a great conduit, funneling power into her soul she could not have imagined scant seconds earlier. The violent darkness retreated from the blue glow that suddenly enveloped the pale girl, leaving her with only two figures.

"Ikari," she whispered, and both of them turned towards her.

"The time has come, Rei," one said, and as he spoke it seemed that the amber lenses shielding his eyes transformed into something else. For a brief moment, his face became craggier, his hair grey. Then it resumed the shape she had known all her life the familiar visage of Ikari Gendo.

"Don't trust a father like him," the other said, and as he spoke it seemed a woman stood behind him, a woman whose smiling face looked not unlike Rei's own. The phantom faded though, leaving Ikari Shinji standing alone.

"You have been given a purpose, Rei... a purpose you must fulfill. Do not waste time with these foolish things," the elder Ikari retorted, the traces of grey fading into and out of his hair once again.

Shinji slowly reached out towards her, a slight smile on his face. "You don't have to be lonely, Rei," he said. An image of her filthy apartment momentarily flashed in front of Rei's eyes, quickly resolving once again to the glowing void and the two Ikaris.

"What should I do..." she muttered, glancing from the Ikari she had known and trusted to the one she did know and trust.

"You should obey orders, as you always have," Gendo commanded, his face stony.

"I think maybe... you should smile," Shinji suggested, his hand still extended towards the blue-haired girl.

The decision took only a moment, as years of mental discipline showed their benefit.

Ayanami Rei smiled, and the darkness evaporated.

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Gendo casually tossed the syringe away from the bed, not caring what happened to the vessel now that it had served its purpose. As the wire-thin needle bent itself on the plastic tiles, Gendo pressed the cotton gauze down on the puncture site in Rei's arm. It would not do for any of the drug to leak back out of her veins—its nature left little room for error. As he waited, the Commander allowed his gaze to wander up from the inside of her elbow towards her face.

Rei's face; Yui's face. Gendo had suffered through ten years of nearly unbearable torture to have Yui, _his_ Yui, so close, near enough to touch... and yet not there at all. Tonight, though, Gendo's eyes did not mistake the pale blue hair for brown, the milky skin for rose. _Tonight, at last, it ends,_ he thought, staring at the young girl who at once embodied his anguish and promised to deliver him from it.

Realizing that the injection would soon take effect, Gendo stepped back from the metal-railed bed. Just as he did so, Rei let out a strangled scream and bolted upright in the bed, her body twisting painfully as she fell forward, bent double. Another convulsion sent her crashing into the rails so strongly that the entire bed rolled several centimeters to the left. She continued to thrash around wildly for several seconds before she at last collapsed in a shuddering heap in the middle of the bed.

Satisfied that the drug had taken effect, Gendo stepped forward and grabbed Rei by her hospital gown, lifting her from the antiseptic sheets. "The time has come, Rei," he said, "You must fulfill your purpose."

Rei's eyes fluttered open, and she stared dully at the man who had ruled her life. With a wheezing voice, she protested, "I am... not... your doll."

Gendo smirked and lifted the girl bodily out of the bed, untroubled by her feeble attempts to fight him off. "If you say so," he said, half dragging the girl towards the door. As he reached it, he dropped Rei to the floor, where she made several ineffectual attempts to lift herself up while he removed the silenced pistol from his pocket. He checked the clip, and decided that eleven bullets would probably be enough to clear the way to the elevators. "Don't struggle so hard, Rei," the Commander whispered as he knelt down to pick her up again. "The drug I used to wake you up will disrupt your motor nerves for some time yet."

Slinging the girl over his shoulder, Ikari Gendo kicked the door open and stepped out into the hall.

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"Touji, are you even paying attention?"

The crippled boy nearly jumped, startled out of his reverie by the voice of his girlfriend. Seeing Touji's momentary distress, Hikari stepped out from the racks of dresses and wrapped an arm around him. "Are you all right, Touji?" she asked, tightening the hug for a moment.

"Yeah," the former jock replied, "I... I'm just thinking."

"Worried about Shinji and Rei?"

"Yeah... I guess."

"You don't need to worry, big brother!" Anita said, clamping onto Touji's leg. "Shinji'll get better!" In a less sure voice, she added, "Right, Ken-kun?"

Her question did not get an answer. The color drained from Kensuke's face, and he put an arm out against the wall of the department store to steady himself.

"What's going on here?" Hikari demanded, looking at the two boys. "Are you hiding something from us?"

Touji shook his head and put an arm around her shoulders, saying, "No, Hikari... I just... have a bad feeling, tonight..." He gazed out the window at the crowded streets, just as he had been doing moments ago, looking for the strange old man. _I must have imagined it,_ he thought, _I'm just worried about Shinji, and it's making me see things._ He shook his head, and continued, "It doesn't matter, though. Let's... let's go buy some get-well presents for Shinji and Rei."

"Presents?" Anita asked hopefully.

"Not for you, kiddo," Touji chided, "But maybe if you're good..."

Anita beamed at her brother and clung even more tightly to his leg.

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Gendo dumped Rei from his shoulder into the corner of the elevator, ignoring the groan of pain that warbled from her lips. Reaching underneath the collar of his shirt, Gendo lifted out a slender silver chain. At its end dangled a steel ankh with odd serrations along the longest arm. Gendo inserted it into a hole in the panel, and then hit a small button marked with a red omega.

As the elevator began to move, Gendo calmly ejected the empty clip from his pistol, simultaneously pulling a replacement out of the inside of his officer's jacket. In a single smooth motion that revealed hours of preparation, Gendo inserted the new clip, cocked the pistol, and fired it into the electronic eye at the top of the elevator.

Lowering the gun, Gendo realized that the temperature in the cabin had increased several degrees. Warily, he turned towards Rei, grunting with relief when he saw she had not moved.

He then smiled, realizing that her skin was glowing.

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"The first failing of Eden occurred because Lilith agreed to serve the Enemy early on," Kaoru explained, the words rattling rapidly out of his mouth as he paced the hospital room in agitation. "As a result, she and Adam were incompatible. Since Adam still walked in light while she did not, Lilith was expelled. Eventually, life began to spring from her, but neither she nor her children were able to become one with Adam. Nor can those descended solely from her synchronize with Eva, made from Adam. Only those descended from Lilith's first children, who shared the seed of Adam, could pilot the Evangelions. All the pilots, to some extent, were _natus de Adamo_. But Adam's seed entered mankind too long ago. Becoming one with the Eva... being absorbed into it... should be impossible for a lilim..." Suddenly, Kaoru froze.

"Oh Allah," he muttered, "I have been a fool."

"What?" Shinji asked.

"I have the answer..." Kaoru began, but the wailing of alarms prevented him from explaining.

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"Angel detected descending to Terminal Dogma!" Shigeru screamed.

Makoto whirled. "What?" he shouted.

"AT field pattern blue detected in an elevator descending to Terminal Dogma," Shigeru repeated. "It's intermittent, but clearly identifiable!"

"Damn!" Maya said, and buried her face in her hands.

"Where is everyone?" Makoto asked, realizing that none of the commanders had arrived. "Shigeru, cut the power to that elevator!" he cried.

"Not working!" Shigeru replied, having already tried that. "Whoever's in there is using a command key. Only the Commanders and Major Katsuragi have the authority to override it!"

"_**Then get a hold of them!**_" Makoto screamed.

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"Proceed immediately to shelters. This is not a drill. Danger imminent. Proceed immediately to shelters," the PA system droned. People were running every which way, the streams of humanity swirling madly in a maelstrom of chaos. Buffeted by the crowds, Hikari, Kensuke, Touji, and Anita tried to make their way towards an appropriate shelter.

"Damn all these jerks who didn't bother to learn the escape routes," Touji muttered. He nearly fell as one of the confused adults accidentally kicked his artificial leg. Hikari reached out and caught him, nearly falling herself as she tried to support the crippled boy.

"We have to make sure we don't get separated," she said. "Kensuke, take Anita's hand, will you?"

The otaku complied, grabbing the little girl's hand gingerly, then squeezing it tightly as another collision with an adult nearly tore her away from the tiny group. "Almost there," he whispered into the young girl's ear. She turned to him and nodded. Her eyes were wide with fright, but she was not crying.

At last the four children came to the large doors of the sanctuary. Touji led them into the huge elevator, then pulled them over to a corner. Within seconds the lift had filled completely with people, and it began its descent to the city bunkers.

"What's going on?" Anita asked. She had spent so long in the hospital that she had missed nearly all the previous combats.

"It's an angel attacking," Touji said. "The Evangelion pilots will take care of it," he added reassuringly when he saw the fright in his little sister's eyes. Hikari nodded and gave the girl a hug to calm her.

Kensuke, however, shook his head. "Without Shinji and Rei, how can they defeat it?" he wondered.

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At the sound of the alarms, Ritsuko quickly stepped out of her apartment and started down the hallway. Her shadow from the JIA was behind her in a second, saying, "Let's get to the shelter."

"No."

"What?"

Ritsuko whirled on the large security man and stared coolly into his opaque sunglasses. "If we go into the shelter, then there's a good chance neither of us will come out alive. I'm not ready to die yet. Are you?"

The security man's face lost its expression of shock, settling back into its impassive professional mask. "Where would you have us go, then?"

Ritsuko turned back around and started down the hallway again. "I don't give a damn where _you_ go," she called. "But _I'm_ going to NERV."

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Shinji grabbed the interface clips out of his locker and tucked them into his hair just as Makoto charged into the locker room. "Shinji," he called, "There's no time to change! You have to get to Terminal Dogma immediately!"

"What's happening?" Shinji asked, already headed towards his cage.

"The Commander... he betrayed us," Makoto replied. "He put all the Evas except yours in cryostasis, and now he's taken an angel directly into Terminal Dogma."

Shinji stopped, stunned by the news. Suspicion flashed into his expression and he asked, "Where's Rei?"

"We don't know, Shinji."

"Shinji," Kaoru said, "You have to go now. Like Hyuga-san said, there's no time."

Shinji nodded. "Come with me," he said, starting to move again. "You can boost my synchronization if we need it, and your unit's in stasis."

Kaoru nodded and slid his own clips on, following Shinji as quickly as he could. Both boys clambered into the entry plug, getting only mildly rattled around as it was lifted into position.

As the synchronization initiated, Kaoru felt a brief wave of nausea, something he had never experienced in Units Two or Five. Something inside the Eva itself resisted his integration. But he was _natus de Adamo_, one who could easily synchronize with any Eva, at least in theory. He could think of only one explanation, a hypothesis confirmed when Shinji briefly embraced the fallen angel.

In that moment, the nausea dissipated, and Kaoru became aware of an unusual warmth in the entry plug. It might have been the simple presence of two bodies, but in his heart Kaoru knew better he had experienced this sensation before. Under his breath, he muttered, "Shekina..."

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The blue sports car screeched to a stop in the parking deck of NERV, but the wailing of the alarms overpowered the squealing tires. Misato and Asuka vaulted out of the coupe and charged towards the door. While Asuka swiped their cards, Misato pulled out a large pistol and cocked it. In response to Asuka's questioning stare, Misato replied, "Just in case."

The door opened, and they were off.

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EVA-01 stood motionless on the shore of the LCL lake in Terminal Dogma. "Come on, move!" Shinji grunted as he tried to will the machine-monster forward.

"Shinji, you're still synchronized... why aren't you moving?" Makoto called.

"I don't know!" Shinji shouted. He looked towards the center of the lake, where Gendo stood impassively at the base of the giant crucifix. Rei was crumpled on the ground next to him. The Commander had the air of a man waiting for a train he knew would be on time, and regarded the motionless Eva without anything resembling fear in his eyes.

"We do not have time to try anything with Eva," Kaoru said quietly. "We have to try and save Rei ourselves."

"Our-ourselves?" Shinji asked. He took a deep breath, then said, "I guess we don't really have a choice."

Shinji ejected the entry plug, and EVA-01 fell still. Kaoru opened the hatch, and both boys splashed out into the lake of LCL. Kaoru felt an eerie chill as he came up knee-deep in the pool where his body had fallen last time he was here. Shinji fell onto his face, and Kaoru helped him up.

"Run on!" Shinji shouted. "I'll catch up. We've gotta save Rei!"

Kaoru nodded and took off, hearing Shinji start up behind him a moment later. Kaoru concentrated on the blue-haired girl, who shivered violently at the foot of the crucified white giant. Blood trickled from the girl's nose, and bruises were beginning to spread on her arms and legs. As he neared the massive cross, Kaoru could see that Rei's breathing was very shallow.

Belatedly, Kaoru noticed that Gendo was removing something from his jacket. The boy was so surprised to see what the object was that he stumbled and skidded forward in the LCL. That stumble saved his life, because the first bullet that Gendo fired went above the fallen angel's head.

But as Kaoru struggled to stand he saw that Gendo had corrected his aim. As Kaoru got to his knees, he found himself looking straight down the barrel of the small, silenced pistol.

Gendo smiled...

...squeezed the trigger...

...and Shinji purposefully stepped in front of his friend. The bullet shattered a lower rib, then ricocheted upward through Shinji's left lung and lodged in his spine.


	13. NGE: AOTF 11

**NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: ASCENT OF THE FALLEN**

**Part Eleven:**

By Sparky Clarkson

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The buzz of quiet conversations filled the emergency bunker with a comforting hum, a gentle rumble that washed up against the cinder-block walls and receded into the crowd, swirling in sonic eddies among the sea of people. The nature of man demanded it; no emotion, however powerful, could rule a crowd forever eventually people would get bored, even of fear. After a few minutes of tense silence, the huddled citizens of Tokyo-3 had reverted to easy conversation, as if the distance between themselves and the battle meant it was not happening.

Touji, however, did not join in. In the early attacks, before he truly understood the horror of Eva, Touji had gabbed merrily along with the rest of them. Now, knowing the true extent of the pain the pilots bore to protect mankind, he couldn't bring himself to join in the banter. It seemed disrespectful for people to titter over who had kissed whom at what dance while children overhead fought through agony to protect them. While his friends fought, Touji spoke only out of necessity.

Hikari had accepted this habit as yet another sign of his good heart, and never pressed him about it. As he sat in the corner of the public bunker with his arm around her, the iinchou leaned against Touji and rested her head on his shoulder. Their intertwined fingers completed the union, the subtle changes in pressure communicating their feelings without the obstruction of unwieldy words.

Anita sensed her brother's mood, though she could not understand his reasons. Still, the new experience of being in the bunker prompted a whirlwind of questions from her young mind. Unwilling to disturb her brother, she had chosen to inflict them on Kensuke. She endlessly pointed out text reports on the monitors, people milling through the large room, or the various vents and lockers, but kept her questions quiet out of sororal respect.

Kensuke, for his part, had curled up in a ball, balancing his head on his knees and locking his arms around his legs. The usually garrulous boy answered Anita's repeated queries with terse, monosyllabic replies, and even these seemed to have been wrenched unwillingly out of him. Touji found himself becoming deeply concerned about his oldest friend—Kensuke always boiled over with excitement during angel attacks, going on endlessly about the footage he was missing, or how annoying the news blackouts were.

Touji's thoughts were interrupted by a searing pain in the left side of his chest, a flash of agony that froze the breath in his lungs and caused his vision to blur with tears. As he blinked them away, Touji saw that Hikari had raised a hand to her breast, and Kensuke had collapsed onto the floor. The other occupants of the room had stopped in mid-motion, their expressions revealing bewilderment and fear.

"What happened?" Anita asked quietly, rubbing her side.

The answer came to Touji even as Kensuke wheezed, "Shi... Shinji. Something's happened to him." Touji nodded grimly, certain in his ever more troubled heart that his friend was in danger. After a moment, Touji realized that his sentiment was widely shared.

The room had fallen silent.

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The sharp impact whirled Asuka around in mid-stride and sent her crashing to the floor even as she gasped at the piercing pain. _I've been shot,_ she concluded as she tried to push herself back up. As the sting vanished, though, she realized that no bloodstain had begun to creep across her yellow sundress, and that her continued breathing contradicted any expectations of a punctured lung.

Misato had also staggered against the wall, and righted herself just as Asuka got back to her feet. "It's Shinji," Misato panted, then shook herself. "Come on!" she called, "We've got to hurry!"

Asuka nodded, and the two took off again even as Asuka wondered, _How did we know that?_

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The upward momentum of the bullet as it impacted on his spine caused Shinji to lift in the air slightly before he fell gracelessly backwards into the LCL. Kaoru, ignoring a sudden, stabbing pain in his chest, lunged forward and lifted Shinji's head out of the liquid. He knelt and lay Shinji's head in his lap, then started to apply pressure to the wound. Gendo raised an eyebrow and lowered his gun.

"You made an unwise decision, Third Child," the commander said, frowning. "You should have let me kill him. My plans would have gone much more smoothly if you had. Then again, you were never a very willing tool. I should have foreseen that you would ultimately be more trouble than you were worth.

"I... couldn't let him die... again," Shinji wheezed struggling to sit up against the pressure of Kaoru's hands.

Gendo's knuckles whitened as he clenched the gun tighter momentarily, and the small ebony weapon trembled in his grip. Then the glimpse of emotion retreated behind the Commander's smirking mask. "I see you have learned nothing from me, pilot," the bearded man said disdainfully.

"You're wrong... father," Shinji replied, "You taught me... who not... to be..." His voice trailed off into inarticulate gurgles as Kaoru tried to get him to relax. Shinji's legs had already gone limp, the nerves tying them to his brain destroyed by the lead slug.

"Don't go, don't go, don't go, don't go," Kaoru mumbled feverishly as tears poured from his eyes. He increased the pressure on the wound, fighting futilely to stem the flow of blood that weakened his friend even as it threatened to drown him.

A cold smile stole over Gendo's heretofore stoic expression. "You're no use to me, then," the bearded man said, carefully training his gun on the spot equidistant between Shinji's eyes. "For Yui's sake, I'd let you live, but I'm too close to my goal now to take any chances. I can't have any other humans around who might interfere with my ascension."

"Answer... one question... please," Shinji wheezed, struggling against his failing muscles to sit up. Gendo frowned and looked at his watch, then shrugged and waved the pistol. Shinji took in a rattling breath and asked, "Why couldn't you love me?"

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Misato and Asuka stormed into the command center, but nobody turned to greet them. The technicians' eyes were glued to the main screen, which displayed the scene in Terminal Dogma. The sight needed no explanation for Misato's paranoid mind. Rei, sporting a few light bruises, lay shuddering at the base of the massive crimson cross to which the now-whole giant Lilith had been affixed. The red-eyed girl's pale skin glowed with a faint blue aura that matched the color of her hair.

Shinji lay partially submerged in the shallow LCL lake a few meters away, his head resting on Kaoru's lap. The weeping grey-haired boy's hands were pressing down on the left side of Shinji's chest, in a vain attempt to stem the growth of the red stain spreading across the younger boy's T-shirt.

A few paces away stood Ikari Gendo, carefully aiming a small pistol at his son's head. The Commander froze as if tensing to fire, but something seemed to keep him from pulling the trigger. A moment later, he lowered the gun fractionally; enough to keep Shinji safe for the moment, but not enough to assure Misato that it would not be raised again within moments.

"Oh no you don't, you son of a bitch," Misato snarled, her eyes locked on the grim figure who had helped ruin everything precious in her life since she was twelve. "Not this time. I'm going down there!"

Makoto turned, only then aware that Misato had arrived. "We can't send anyone with you," he warned, "we're focusing all our manpower on getting the Evas out of cryostasis."

"I don't care," Misato said. "I'll kill him myself." She turned to leave the command center, but Asuka stopped her.

"If my Eva isn't ready... I want to go with you."

Misato almost told the girl not to come, but she saw a familiar gleam in those blue eyes, warning her that the redhead wouldn't be deterred by something as simple as words. "Fine," Misato said, and removed a second gun from inside her jacket, "but if you're coming along, you're coming armed."

Asuka accepted the gun eagerly, but after staring at it for a moment, looked up at Misato with a more tentative expression.

"Um, Misato, exactly how do I fire this? The only guns I've ever used were for Eva..."

Misato took the gun back. "This," she said pointing out the relevant feature, "is the safety, and this is the trigger. Turn off the safety, point the gun at an acceptable target, and depress the trigger."

"And is..."

Misato cocked the gun and handed it back to Asuka. "Yes," she said. "Ikari Gendo **is** an acceptable target."

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Gendo lowered the gun slightly, keeping his eyes trained on the pale face of his son. "I once wondered the same thing," he said. He paused for a moment, then continued, "Do you remember the day I left you at the train station?"

Kaoru, still bent over the ever-limper form of his friend, saw Shinji's face briefly twist with a pain that was more than physical. He caressed Shinji's cheek lightly, his fingertips trailing blood across the pale skin. The tense expression relaxed slightly, and Kaoru moved his hand back to press on the wound.

Gendo apparently took Shinji's agony as an answer, because he continued, "As I walked away from you, hearing your sobs, I asked myself why I felt nothing. Only a while ago did I truly understand the answer.

"You see, pilot, all my life I've had a closed heart. I do not even recall loving my parents, and my emotions did not change significantly for many years. I made my way by never caring about anyone other than myself.

"When I met your mother and fell in love with her, though, that started to change my callousness faded as my affection for her grew. I suppose most people still thought of me as cold, but I knew how much I had changed."

As Gendo spoke Kaoru realized that Lilith's features had changed. The seven eyes were no longer arranged in two columns over a triangle. Instead, they had moved to equidistant positions around the edge of her face. As Kaoru sneaked a glance at the white giant, he saw glowing cracks appear in the purple mask, connecting each eye with two others. Lilith's face now looked like a seven-pointed star had been etched in it, with an eye on each point. _The seal,_ he thought, but before he could consider the development any further, Shinji convulsed slightly, drawing Kaoru's attention away from the white giant.

"The day she disappeared, though," Gendo continued, heedless, "I felt that new warmth die. My heart closed again, and any affection I had felt towards you or anyone else while Yui was alive disappeared. Yui was the key to open my lock; without her, I can love no-one."

Gendo raised the gun once more. "In a sense, I will regret this," he said, taking aim at Shinji's head again, "Perhaps, with Yui back, I could grow to love you again. But I cannot risk failure now. You and your friend will have to die."

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"Dammit dammit dammit _**dammit!**_" Misato shouted, punching the door of the elevator. "Why does this thing have to be so damned slow?"

Asuka said nothing, as she gazed at the heavy black pistol clenched in her pale, delicate hand. In her mind's eye, she saw herself staring down the barrel of the gun, ready to fire. The Commander stared back, his cold eyes shielded by his amber glasses.

Asuka's finger squeezed down on the trigger several times before she snapped back into the reality of the humming elevator. Silently thanking Misato for leaving the safety on, Asuka relaxed her hold on the checked grip and turned to watch the numbers tick by slowly.

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The obsidian goat hoof tapped the steamy asphalt loudly as Keel Lorenz stood at the intersection of two empty streets, watching the last vestiges of purple twilight disappear behind the western horizon. A half-hearted breeze wallowed through the muggy evening air too weak to move any of the limp paper littered across the sidewalks of the shopping district, too gentle to disturb the flies feasting on food discarded by fleeing citizens. As the lethargic wind brushed across the old man's face, however, he turned towards its origin: the center of Tokyo-3. The corners of the old man's mouth turned upwards in a crafty grin that etched more wrinkles into his eroded face.

"I feel the boy's passing, my children," Keel whispered, tightening his grip on the ebon cane, "Soon, we will have our chance, despite His best efforts." As if in response, several flies flitted away from an abandoned rice ball and began buzzing around the gnarled hand that clutched the twisted visage of the dragon. "Very soon..."

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Gendo once again raised the gun, slowly aligning its barrel with the center of Shinji's forehead. Tensing himself to make the shot, he briefly turned his head to check on Rei.

His fingers went limp briefly, maintaining a hold on the gun only by their friction against its checkered grip. He turned his head rapidly from side to side, scanning the vast cavern carefully for every change. "Impossible..." he muttered, taking in Rei's blue hair, Lilith's white skin, and the lake of orange LCL. Only moments ago, the hair had been black, the skin orange, and the lake clear.

"How..?" Gendo whispered. Recalling himself to the situation, he tightened his grip on the gun and once again brought it in line with his son's head. With his left hand, he removed the wire-rimmed glasses. He held the oval lenses up in front of his face, staring at the now-clear glass through slightly near-sighted eyes.

With a shrug, he tossed the useless glasses aside, ignoring the splash as they fell into the viscous LCL. "I don't need them I'm close enough," he growled, steadying his arm to fire the final shot. "Nothing can prevent my victory."

Nonetheless, he lowered his arm immediately when he distinctly heard Yui behind him saying, "Stop."

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The elevator shuddered as it finally reached the end of its descent. For a few agonizing moments, nothing happened, even though Misato was hammering away at the "Door Open" button. Just as Misato reached for the emergency release, the doors started to slowly slide apart. As the rarely used machinery creaked away, the Major carefully flicked the safety on her gun off. "Pray we're not too late," she muttered as she sprinted into the hallway leading to Terminal Dogma. Asuka followed closely, readying her own gun and muttering a silent prayer that she would have one good shot.

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"Shekina," Kaoru whispered reverently as the voice reverberated in the giant cavern. He kept his eyes on the pallid face of his friend, however, probably fearing that if he looked away he would never see Shinji alive again. Gendo decided that he no longer posed a significant threat.

"I will not permit this," Yui's voice added.

The commander whirled around to see the source of the voice, sending eddies whirling off in the thick soup of LCL. Hampered by the loss of his glasses, he swung his head around wildly for a moment before calling, "Yui, where are you?"

"Where I have always been," the voice replied.

Gendo froze for a moment as realization sank in. Then, slowly, he raised his eyes up beyond the level of the LCL to focus on the purple giant that had silently moved to stand beside Lilith. "No..." he whispered, "not like this..." The gun fell from his limp fingers a moment before they clenched into a fist. "It wasn't supposed to be like this!"

"Tantrums will not serve you now, Rokubungi Gendo!" Yui's voice said, reverberating inside his skull. "You knew the consequences when you chose this path only your sins blinded you to them."

"I only wanted to have you back," Gendo replied, his voice cracking in frustration. "I only wanted to love you."

"I was not yours to have," Yui replied. "You knew that ten years ago."

"Yui!" Gendo cried, "Please understand you have no idea what it was like, being without you!"

"Perhaps it was like a child being without his father," the woman trapped in the Eva replied quietly.

"Mother..." Gendo heard Shinji whisper behind him. He spared a glance at the boy, laying helpless in the LCL, his face damp with sweat and Kaoru's tears.

"You have disappointed me, Gendo," Yui continued, "You have disappointed our Father. We entrusted you with the greatest of duties, and you failed us. Why did you turn your back on the true path?"

"Because I love you," Gendo replied, "you were the only one who ever loved me."

"Love?" Yui asked. "I do not think you understand it. Love surrounded you always, Gendo. Your son loved you, but you sent him away. Could you not see that my spirit lived on in him, Gendo? God gives all men eyes enough to perceive love. Men are blind only if they do not wish to see."

Gendo tried to speak, but found himself choking on the words.

"Even Naoko and Ritsuko would have loved you, given the chance," Yui continued, "yet you gave them nothing. Did you pity them as you used them, Gendo, or did you think them so far beneath you as not to merit pity?"

"They could never compare to you," Gendo whispered, tears filling his eyes as the first sense of defeat trickled into his heart.

"So you made a copy," Yui said, extending the Eva's hand towards Rei's nude form. "Yet even she could not satisfy you."

"She was not you. She could never be."

"Because she lacked emotions, Gendo, or because she lacked a womb?"

Gendo looked away, unable to face the monstrosity he had created. It wasn't supposed to be this way. Keel had promised...

"You were always too proud, Gendo," Yui said, the anger gone from her voice. "I hoped you could overcome that weakness, but you chose to learn the wrong lesson from my 'accident'. Rather than understanding how your hubris had stolen that which you considered most precious, you decided that if you just tried harder, you could learn how to outsmart fate."

The Eva's arm dropped to its side. "You sat smugly in your fortress and threw children in front of you to stave off the wolves," Yui continued, "children you prepared for battle by making them hate their lives. They would have fought for love, Gendo, but you chose to make them fight from pain. Did you think it would confuse the Almighty? Did you truly believe that by being the first to merge with Lilith you could replace Him? Did you think you could outwit God?"

"You knew better, Gendo, knew that day when I told you what I was. All men are free to choose their own path, Gendo, but they cannot help but act for the greater glory of God. God's plan goes forward, Gendo, but yours is now shattered on the rocks of time, soon to become dust. You shall not supplant Him nor were you ever in any likelihood of doing so.

"You spent so much time with the old books, but you never learned, did you? All that time, trying to see the future, when your fate was spelled out clearly. '_Lâ ilâha ill Allâh_,' the books say, and 'Thou shalt have no other gods before me.' There were no codes, no ciphers, no hidden meanings only the indelible proof of your inevitable failure.

"Proof to which your pride made you blind. No man may become God; it is beyond man even to understand Him. Only through love may man come close to seeing the heart of the Almighty, and you rejected that from the beginning."

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Misato and Asuka paused momentarily as they entered Terminal Dogma. The situation had changed in the cavern since they last got a glimpse from the command center. Shinji's condition had worsened blood had dyed his shirt crimson, leaving his skin white as the fabric had once been. He shivered in Kaoru's lap, but aside from that seemed unable to move. Kaoru continued his effort to maintain pressure on the deadly gunshot wound, but the hopelessness on his face revealed that he knew the effort to be futile.

The bluish glow surrounding Rei had grown so bright that neither Misato nor Asuka could look at her for long. The shimmering radiance became brighter and darker in a slow, steady rhythm, like the breathing of someone sleeping.

Gendo, too had changed. Bereft of his glasses and gun, he stared blankly up at the massive form of EVA-01, which now stood next to the giant crucifix. His arms were out in a gesture of supplication, but it was not clear what he was pleading for, or whether he expected his prayer to be answered. Misato considered crouching and killing the commander right then, but Asuka's urgent shaking of Misato's shoulder brought the major back to the more important goal.

"We've gotta save Shinji," she panted. "You know first aid, right?"

Misato nodded, desperately calling up whatever she could remember of the emergency techniques she'd learned in the first days of her GEHIRN training. "Yeah," she said, "I'll try to help Kaoru out. I want you to follow twenty paces behind me, and keep your gun on the commander. If he twitches, kill him. Otherwise, let him be."

"Why?" Asuka asked.

"Because," Misato growled, running into the LCL, "He's mine."

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"Then I can do nothing?" Gendo asked.

"No," Yui replied. "You have brought mankind to the critical point, but you shall not pass. You have committed crimes uncounted against God and man. There must be an accounting, and its time is now."

Gendo nodded, casting his gaze towards the ground. Defeat tasted bitter in his mouth. The whole world, it seemed, had conspired against him. Even his dearest Yui had turned against him, bringing his downfall with an almost gleeful vengeance.

"You chose this fate," Yui scolded, seemingly reading his thoughts. "Today could have been your great victory, but you staked everything on a path you knew would lead to ruin. You may yet destroy mankind with your selfishness." She paused, then added, "Tell me Gendo, was this reward worth the choices you made?"

Gendo glanced at his dying son, watching helplessly as Shinji's blood poured from the wound his father had inflicted. The commander's shoulder's slumped. "No," he murmured, "I have wasted two lives. I am sorry, Shinji."

And then he was crushed into the floor by the rapidly descending fist of EVA-01.

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Black blood welled up from the loose, wrinkled skin that draped itself over the bones of the old man's hand. His lips twitched upwards in a grin as the fly hungrily drank the meal it had just found, swelling it's iridescent green body with the oil-like fluid. After a moment it lifted heavily off the gnarled hand, wobbling uncertainly in the air as its wings fought desperately to keep its distended body aloft. Even as the insect buzzed drunkenly off into the deepening twilight, another took its place, tearing away at yet another spot of the old man's skin.

The flies around Keel Lorenz were now so thick that they seemed like a thundercloud, blood-sated insects dropping to the earth like its hideous black rain. Still, even more flies came, streaming through the muggy air from every point of the compass. Obsidian rivers in the sky blotted out the moon and the first, gleaming stars, and the engorged brothers made a carpet on the ground, a crawling black ocean that crept along the streets and up the sides of buildings. Occasionally knots of the insects would build up into shapes a man here, a wolf there but they could not maintain their forms for long.

_Not yet,_ Keel thought, his grin broadening as a serpent briefly took shape in the sea of flies. _Not quite yet, but soon._

The skin on his arm dropped away, revealing scintillating black scales.

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Kaoru wept openly over Shinji as Misato approached. Already, the brown-haired boy was limp and essentially still, his breathing so shallow as to be almost undetectable. Misato stripped off her jacket as she dropped to her knees, wrapping the garment around Shinji to keep him warm while she helped Kaoru apply pressure to the wound. As her fingers closed around Kaoru's hand, she glimpsed movement out of the corner of her eye.

She quickly turned her head just in time to see the massive fist of EVA-01 slam into Ikari Gendo's head, not slowing as it followed the motion through until its hand slammed into the floor of Terminal Dogma with a resonant boom. In that moment, Shinji convulsed and let out a loud, agonized cry that quickly trailed off into a whimper.

Misato scowled momentarily at the purple giant that had caused her charge so much pain, then returned her attention to Shinji. "Hold on, Shin-chan," she whispered, "The pain will be over soon people are coming to help you."

"He feels his father's dying agony," a melodious, feminine voice announced. Misato turned towards the source, as Asuka arrived, only to see EVA-01. She decided could not spare any time to worry about the giant mechanoid. If it meant to kill them, then she could not stop it. If not, she had to keep Shinji alive until the emergency medical teams could make it down.

"What the hell is going on?" Asuka asked, echoing Misato's sentiment as she dropped her gun into the LCL and placed her hands over Shinji's wound.

Kaoru lifted his head from staring at his friend. Pain and grief had already etched themselves into his tear-stained visage. "I understood too late," he said, his voice breaking as he struggled to hold back his sobs, "I figured it out when Shinji told me that his mother had been absorbed into his Eva. I had suspicions, but... I wasn't sure until a while ago. Shinji's mother was the first messenger, the most powerful messenger. She was Shekina, the female aspect of God."

"Shekina?"

"I have many names," the female voice said, though the Eva's jaw did not move, "Pista Sophia, the Holy Spirit, Metatron, Mary... I came to open the door, to give man his chance to at last return to God. Rei, Kaoru, and my dear Shinji were born by or created from me. Two were meant to serve as vessels, and Shinji... he was meant to serve as the conduit for ascension."

"Save him, Shekina!" Kaoru shouted. Misato felt her heart break at the words, because they emphasized what she already knew, but could not yet admit. No human effort could save Shinji from the wound he had been dealt by his father.

EVA-01 did not reply. Instead, it slumped to its knees in a position of prostration, and the light in its eyes died. Misato turned away, resting her gaze on Shinji. The pain had disappeared from his face, and his breathing was verging on undetectable. He looked peaceful and almost happy. Tears filled Misato's eyes, blurring her vision.

But she did see an unfamiliar hand stroke the boy's cheek, a hand that glowed white in the fairly dim atmosphere of Terminal Dogma. A strange, radiant woman in a lab coat knelt next to the boy in the pool of LCL. "I cannot," Yui said sadly, "God commands that it be so. But do not cry, children. Do you not remember that in God we find life eternal?"

The glowing woman disappeared, and with a final sigh, Shinji died.

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Shinji recognized the voice, the same honeyed tones that had reverberated in his mind during the battle against Azrael. "You have come to us soon, Shinji. I wonder why. It did not have to be so," it said.

Shinji's sight returned to him and he found himself kneeling in the center of a strange chamber. In front of him, a huge sapphire monolith stood, glowing brilliantly in all the colors of the rainbow. The sight was so incomprehensible that Shinji could not bear to look at it, so he bowed his head. More monoliths encircled him, nine to go along with the one before which he was prostrate. Two were darkened, but the rest glowed in single tones, mere components of the greater light, seeming dim in comparison with its magnitude.

Shinji realized that he was naked, but for some reason he was not embarrassed. It seemed somehow right for him to be unclothed before such power. He stared at the white marble floor between his knees, and said, "I couldn't let Kaoru die again. Not for me. Not because of my father. I... I had to stop it."

Again the familiar voice of Azrael filled the chamber. "What made you decide to make your stand now? Why did you not put yourself in Touji's place?" it asked.

"Now?" Shinji asked, "Because now was the only time I could! Father always planned ahead, always knew what would happen next... but just that last time I had the chance to surprise him. I would rather he kill me than Kaoru or Rei, or anyone else." A tear rolled out of his eye as he continued, "I just wanted him to stop hurting people."

The chamber was silent for several moments. Then a calm voice asked, "What did you want him to do instead?"

"It's... it's selfish," Shinji murmured.

"That is nothing to be ashamed of," the voice said. "Selfishness is part of being human all men desire things for themselves. To want a thing is not in itself evil. Only coveting that which you do not deserve is a violation of God's law," it explained. "So tell us, child, what did you desire?"

"I wanted him... I wanted him to love me," Shinji whispered. Again, the tears threatened to overflow his eyes.

The circle was silent again. Then a voice boomed forth from the brilliant light in the sapphire. It seemed that it spoke with every tone in the spectrum of man's hearing as it said, "Then you have nothing to fear, child. For behold! You have found the middle path, the balance between the needs of the self and the needs of the many. Your action served both yourself and mankind, selfishness and altruism, and did so evenly, and as each deserved. You have found the path I meant man to walk on from the beginning. The time, then, is truly come. Go with my blessing, Ikari Shinji."

With the slightest rustling sound, the boy vanished.

And then the voice from within the sapphire boomed once more. "The time is come, my children. Unseal the heavens, and gather the armies together in the appointed place. The last battle is upon us."

The other voices chorused, "Let it be done," and all the monoliths vanished.

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"No..." Kaoru moaned, his head drooping forward over Shinji's body. His hand still kept up pressure against the wound, a futile act reflecting a shattered heart. The grey-haired boy looked as if all his 10 billion years had hit him at the same time. Though no physical change had manifested itself, the horror and pain in his mahogany eyes made his age all too apparent.

Asuka held Shinji's right hand in her lap, gently stroking the thin fingers as if doing so could bring life back into the motionless body. Her lips trembled, and tears spilled out of her eyes as they stared vacantly at Shinji's bloody chest.

Misato, kneeling at Shinji's feet, tried to hold back her tears, but failed miserably. They fell into the LCL, making tiny ripples in the fluid. She wanted to hold back, to be strong for the children, but she knew that nothing she could say or do would ever ease their pain. She glanced at the base of the crucifix, looking for Rei, but she could see the girl nowhere. Devastated as she was, only a slight glimmering of fear passed through her with Shinji gone, the loss of the distant First Child seemed only one more demon in a nightmare.

Misato began half-heartedly scanning the room through tear-filled eyes, but stopped when she heard Rei's quiet voice say, "I am here, Misato." Slowly, as if pushing against a great weight, Misato swung her head to look at the spot from which the sound had emanated.

Rei stood just to Shinji's left, her feet hovering a few centimeters above the surface of the LCL. All her physical injuries had evaporated, and she glowed with a soft blue light that seemed to emanate from the turquoise-feathered wings that had grown from her back. The hospital gown she had worn had transformed into a tunic of the same color, and her hair had changed shade slightly to match the wings.

Kaoru looked up from the peaceful visage of his dead friend and said, "Rafael," in a broken and empty voice.

"Why so sad, Tabris?" Rei asked. "One might think a person dear to you had departed." Shocked by the cruelty of the statement, Misato gasped and half-stood, but Kaoru only ran his free hand through Shinji's hair.

"I see," Rei said, "You fear the separation." She knelt on top of the LCL and gently grabbed Shinji's left hand. "But I say you are all mistaken," she continued. "Your friend has not passed away. For in God you shall find life eternal, and through this boy, you will once again find God." The glow surrounding the angelic girl grew and surrounded Shinji's body.

Their was a sound of inhalation, but Misato did not know from whom it had come. The matter was cleared up when Shinji coughed loudly. A small stream of blood spilled out of his mouth, but he coughed again and his eyes fluttered open. "How..." he whispered, "I was... I saw..."

"Hush, child," Rei said, "You have merely passed through a stage. You were judged, and found worthy. Now come with me." She gently pulled on his hand, and Shinji stood. His effort to do so was unsteady initially, but Kaoru supported him until he was firmly on his feet. Rei led Shinji towards the cross, with Asuka helping him maintain his balance. Misato and Kaoru followed behind.

When the group had reached the cross, Rei levitated so that she was even with Lilith's face. She turned to Misato, and said, "Lift him up."

Misato shook her head, disbelieving, but took hold of Shinji around the waist and lifted him as high as she could. To her surprise, the boy hardly weighed anything at all.

The lines on Lilith's face grew wider, and suddenly the heptagonal figure formed in the center of the star created by the seven-line pattern fell away, and radiant light shone from behind it. Misato could not see what was within, but she heard a warm, feminine voice ask, "Have my children found their way back to Him, whom I forsook so long ago?"

"This boy has witnessed the almighty and returned," Rei explained, indicating Shinji with her right hand.

"Then I am forgiven," Lilith said. "If death no longer binds my children, I need not stay to protect them." The giant flexed its arms, and its hands came away from the cross as if nothing had bound them. Misato drew in a sharp breath, but the giant made no hostile motion. "This child's sacrifice, and his father's cruelty, have shown me my error. I should not have tried to rule mankind as a goddess. _Allahu-akbar_, archangel Rafael. I submit myself to the rule of God."

Rei reached out to touch Lilith, and both she and the white giant disappeared.

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The last tattered shreds of skin fell to the ground, and with them the final traces of Keel Lorenz. In his place there remained only a twisted mass of serpentine flesh, as if twenty snakes had been tied together and placed in a mold. Free of the constricting form that had imprisoned it, the black-scaled beast began to stretch and unfold, growing as it did so to an impossible size.

The obsidian carpet about the beast's feet began to writhe with even greater vigor, taking on and discarding shapes more rapidly than ever before. The air had grown still, its silence broken only by the intermittent buzzing of fly wings as the engorged insects fought for position. Nightmares began to take shape in the streets of Tokyo-3, even as a greater evil expanded overhead.

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The oppressive silence in the shelter broke out again into quiet murmuring. Touji felt like a cool breeze had just blown on him, pushing away the weight that seemed to have centered itself on his shoulders in the past few hours. "Something's changing," he said.

"I know," Kensuke said, "and Shinji's all right." Touji nodded, recognizing this as the truth without understanding how he knew it.

"I wonder what kind of change it is," Hikari mused, stroking Anita's hair.

"A good one, I hope," Touji replied. He'd meant to say more, but as he spoke, he felt a strange dissonance in his consciousness. He suddenly felt small and weak a little boy with a fake arm and leg, powerless to defend himself or anyone else. The thought made him afraid.

"Something's wrong..." Anita whispered, her eyes filling with tears of panic.

Touji had no words to reassure her.

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"So that's it?" Misato asked, lowering Shinji to the ground again, where a crying Kaoru joyfully embraced him. "That's everything?"

"I hope so," Asuka said, her own eyes tearing up, "I can't take that kind of shock again."

Shinji, quickly regaining strength after his strange experience, hugged Kaoru back and murmured a few comforting words next to the grey-haired boy's ear. After a few moments, Kaoru regained some semblance of control over his emotions and relinquished his iron grip on Shinji, who was immediately snatched into Asuka's arms.

Asuka kissed him as forcefully as she could. "Never do that again, Dummkopf," she scolded, tears running down her cheek. Crushed against the redhead's chest, Shinji could hardly manage a reply, but did hug the girl back. She released him into Misato's arms again.

As she pulled Shinji close, the situation finally sank into Misato's mind. Shinji's lightness of a few moments before had made him seem alien, almost incorporeal, but now, in her arms, he had weight again, and heat. This was no dream, no apparition, but her Shinji, alive and in her arms, when only a few minutes ago he had been dead.

Once again, Misato had neither the strength nor the desire to hold back her tears. She could only mutter, "Thank God... Shinji... thank God..." as she rocked the boy back and forth.

After a few moments Misato got hold of herself and let go of Shinji. With a wink at him, she started leading the children away from the massive crucifix, passing by the doubled-over form of EVA-01. The giant beast looked almost as if it was praying, bowing in supplication before the giant crucifix in the center of the room.

"So, what happened?" Asuka asked, "While you were... away, I mean."

Shinji shook his head, a motion that in his still fragile state would have made him fall over had Kaoru not taken hold of his arm. "I'm not sure," Shinji said, when he regained his balance. "It all seemed so strange... I remember giant pillars of light, and a strange room..." he trailed off into a thoughtful silence. "I guess I just don't have the words to explain it," he concluded with a shrug.

"Well, at least it's over," Misato sighed in relief. "I'm glad Third Impact wasn't like the Second."

"It... it hasn't occurred yet," Kaoru said.

The others turned to him, and Misato opened her mouth to ask him what he meant. But she was interrupted as the alarms, which had been silent since she arrived in Terminal Dogma, once again began clanging loudly.

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"Freedom," whispered the voice of Keel Lorenz, spilling over blood-blackened teeth and evaporating in the muggy air. "I have been trapped so long," it muttered, "caught in this feeble form, despised by these mortals..." A bitter laugh punctuated the thought. "Well, now they shall learn their folly. The Third Impact has come, and with its power I shall build a tower to the Heavens and topple Him!" He swatted a building with an obsidian claw, lips twitching into a smirk over his fangs as it collapsed into dust. "I shall build a tower with their souls..."


	14. NGE: AOTF 12

**NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: ASCENT OF THE FALLEN**

**Part Twelve:**

By Sparky Clarkson

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"What's happening?" Misato demanded as she led the remaining three children into the command center.

"We've detected an AT field in the western sector of the city," Makoto replied, not removing his eyes from the monitor in front of him. "We can't seem to get visuals just yet Commander Ikari apparently sabotaged almost all Magi functions when he betrayed us.

"Sabotaged? How?" Misato asked.

"We're locked out," Maya said. "All Magi functions have been reset so that they require a command code. Inside the Geo-Front we can still operate the independent control systems, but beyond HQ our hands are tied."

"Commander Ikari's not available to remove the lockout," Misato said. "So get Vice-Commander Fuyutsuki. Maybe he knows the codes."

"Can't," Makoto replied, gnawing at his lower lip while he continued to try passwords. "A nurse found him five minutes ago, in Rei's hospital room. He'd been shot twice."

"Dammit! So you're saying we're helpless?"

"We're not helpless," Maya replied. "We just need some time to hack the lockout code."

"Perhaps I can be of assistance," a familiar voice called from the door. Misato whirled around to see an old friend wearing an unfamiliar hairdo.

"Sempai!" Maya shouted, a radiant smile spreading across her face. "You're back!"

"Yes," Ritsuko replied. She had only very short brown hair, and was without her customary lab jacket, but Misato could easily recognize her old roommate.

"That hair color suits you better," Misato said.

"Thanks. Now, let's get to business. Hyuga-kun, could I have your terminal?"

"Yes, Akagi san!" Makoto replied, standing almost before she finished asking the question. The scientist took a seat and began rapidly typing, muttering quietly under her breath as her fingers clattered on the keys. Within moments, screens began flickering on all over the room.

"We have visuals!" Shigeru announced unnecessarily as images of the city appeared on the monitors.

Everyone in the room turned towards the displays, then froze in momentary horror. Tokyo-3 was covered by a scintillating carpet of black, a surging, ebbing tide of obsidian particles that made waves in the streets and lapped up at the edges of buildings, and around the feet of an immense beast. It's seven giant heads were supported by massive shoulders and a long, sinuous body that tapered to a tail with seven curving, black spines. Five of the heads had horns, each a different shape, and the other two heads spewed fire against the storage buildings, detonating the weapons inside. The creature also used its clawed feet and bat-like wings as weapons, toppling buildings and tearing holes in the pavement.

"What the Hell is that?" Misato asked, the first to break the long, stunned silence.

"An appropriate question," Kaoru replied, gulping nervously. "It... it is the Adversary."

"Adversary?"

Kaoru closed his eyes, and said, "In the first days of the Universe, one of the greatest of the angels attempted to raise himself above God, and a third of the angels supported him. They were all cast out of Heaven and fell to earth, but their power was not completely removed." He shuddered, then continued, "The one who had led the revolt was afterwards called 'the Adversary,' and he used every opportunity to try and reclaim the position he thought he deserved. But before he fell, he was called Sammael, or Lucifer. He can take many shapes... but this is his favorite." The former angel's voice remained calm, but he had started shaking, obviously afraid to be facing his oldest enemy.

"So now we're up against Satan, too?" Shigeru asked. "Can't we ever catch a break?"

"What do we do?" Misato wondered aloud.

"What we always do," Shinji replied, putting an arm around his shivering friend. "Sammael's still an angel, so we have to go fight him."

"But how?" Makoto asked. "How do you kill the Devil himself?"

"I don't know," Asuka said. "But we have to try."

"Misato, I have a message for you that may be relevant," Ritsuko announced. "Gendo kept the Longinus Spear after pilot Nagisa returned. Fuyutsuki told me to let you know that it was hidden in warehouse room 3184, behind a load of water exchangers."

"The Longinus Spear you mean, what Rei used to defeat the fifteenth angel?"

"Yes. Its metal possesses a psychic energy that lays open the soul and makes it one with the flesh. It's very dangerous though because of that property, if it damages an Eva, the pilot will suffer the same physical wound. If you use it, you'll run that risk."

"We don't really have any other choice," Misato said, "If that really is the Devil out there, then we're going to need every bit of help we can get." She considered the situation for another moment, then said, "As third-in-command, I am assuming control of NERV. Makoto, have the engineers prep all the Evas for launch, and get a team down to Terminal Dogma to help Shinji get back in Unit One. Maya, Ritsuko, start analyzing all the data we can get from the surface sensors. We need to have a plan of attack, and we can't make one until we know what that ugly bastard really is. Kids, suit up, then get in your Evas. I'll brief you before you launch."

"Yes Ma'am!"

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"Kaoru?" Shinji asked.

"Yes?" the fallen angel replied, pressing the switch on his wrist. His plugsuit made a small vacuum sound as it shrank to fit him.

"Where was I? When I... when I died, I mean," Shinji asked, depressing his own vacuum switch.

"You were in the Throne of the Soul," Kaoru replied, "The real one. From it, God rules the entire universe. Few mortals have ever seen it even after their bodies perish permanently. For you to see it and return... I have never heard of such a thing."

"Oh," Shinji said, feeling no pride in this particular form of uniqueness. "I'm not sure whether I want to do anything like that again," he added, staring at the floor. "I felt... small, and overwhelmed... like I didn't belong."

Shinji started with surprise when Kaoru hugged him tightly. "You belonged," the grey-haired boy replied. "You're the best person I've ever met. You have so much love in your heart, despite all that's happened... I'm honored to be near you."

Shinji returned the embrace, resting his head on the other boy's shoulder. "Kaoru," he asked, "Can we really defeat Sammael?"

Kaoru tilted his head to nuzzle Shinji's cheek and said, "I'm not sure, Shinji. Before the Fall, Sammael was the greatest of God's servants, except perhaps Michael. Even outnumbered two to one, his army almost triumphed over the Host. But I cannot believe God would let us fight him if there were no hope, and if any human being can defeat Satan, it's you."

Shinji tightened his hold for a moment, then released his friend. "Then we'll just have to give it a try," he said as Kaoru let him go. The boys turned to leave the locker room. As they neared the exit, Shinji said, "Kaoru, just in case... I want to tell you again... I love you."

Kaoru paused in mid-stride. "I love you too, Shinji," he answered. "But don't worry about not having another chance. We're going to win."

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"This field architecture is very strange," Ritsuko said, taking a slow drag on her cigarette, "It seems each head has its own AT field, and then the body has an eighth field." She noticed that the cigarette was nearly gone, and ground it out against the desk. She leaned back in the seat, sighing. "What's strangest," she added, "Is that the fields intersect without interfering. I'm not exactly sure how."

"Perhaps the AT field works differently for this Angel," Maya suggested. "After all, he's not from the same place as the others."

Ritsuko shook her head, saying, "That may be so, but if we proceed on that assumption then we can't make any plans at all." Maya frowned as the once-blond doctor continued, "No, we have to assume that this Angel's AT field works just like all the rest. That means the fields should negate each other when they come into contact."

"Yet that leaves us no closer to the answer," Maya whispered. "Well, the obvious place to start is: Why do AT fields negate each other when they come in contact normally?"

"I'm not sure," Ritsuko replied, "There's not enough data to explain it. As far as anyone knows, they just do. Like mutual annihilation of matter and antimatter, AT field negation just happens because that's the way the Universe works."

"That can't be right, though," Maya protested. "After all, when the kids had to fight the Archangels, their AT fields weren't always enough to negate the enemy fields completely."

"Well, you have to account for field strength," Ritsuko replied. "If two fields have different strengths, the stronger one survives in a weakened state. That's not helpful here, though, because the fields around the heads are all equally strong. Even more confusing, the field protecting the body is much weaker than any of the head fields. It should be completely obliterated."

"I'm still not convinced, sempai," Maya said, "especially not about your analogy. When matter meets antimatter, it's one minus one. When AT fields meet, it's one **plus** one."

"So what's different between AT fields?" Ritsuko asked.

"The creator?" Maya asked. "Maybe it matters who creates the field. That might explain it human fields cancel angel ones, but not human ones."

"But that leaves us without any advantage," Ritsuko said. "And besides, tests with the mass-production Evas showed that they could cancel each other's fields."

"So we have nothing to go on."

"That's about the size of it."

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The shelter trembled, causing several of its occupants to lose their balance. Many were already sitting to avoid the embarrassment of toppling over onto a stranger. "It feels like an earthquake," Hikari said.

"No, that's not it," Kensuke replied. "Feel how it comes and goes so quickly? It's like something big is stomping around up there on the streets above us."

"It's probably the angel, then," Hikari said. "I hope the Evangelions take care of it soon," she added as a loud crashing sound emanated from somewhere above. "I'm not sure this place can hold up forever."

"Where's the emergency exit?" Touji asked, deeming the issue important enough to abandon his customary silence. "If rubble from what's going on up there falls down the elevator shaft, we'll need to know the other way out."

"It's in the back corner," Kensuke said, waving his hand in the general direction. "Right next to the vending machines."

Touji nodded, then cringed as particularly strong tremor caused powder to fall from the ceiling. "Maybe we should move over there," he suggested.

"Good idea," Hikari said, taking Anita's hand.

"Will we get to see an Evangelion?" the little girl asked as she dutifully followed her brother and his friends towards the rear of the shelter.

"I hope not," Hikari replied. "Kensuke likes to think otherwise, but I hate watching the pilots fight angels. It's better to stay in here, where we're safe."

Kensuke sighed, "I guess I was a bit crazy for a while, wanting to watch that kind of thing." The shelter trembled again, and he had to support himself against a wall. Seeing that they'd managed to reach the exit, he let himself slump down to the floor.

"Had a change of heart?" Touji asked, taking a seat himself.

Kensuke nodded. "I'm not sure when my mind started to change," he said, "but I got tired of all this. I think... I think I'd like us all to be normal, y'know? I used to think that nothing could be cooler than piloting an Eva, but after all this..." The room shuddered again, and Kensuke was silent for a moment. "My dad sneaked me in to see Shinji right after the battle with Gabriel," he quietly admitted.

"Wha..? Ya never told me!" Touji said, surprised.

"I... I couldn't talk about it... I couldn't tell anyone," Kensuke said, wrapping his arms around his knees again. "It was the... the most awful thing I ever saw... even worse than when you..." Kensuke squeezed his eyes shut, trying to master his emotions, then continued, "He didn't seem to have any shape at all, like someone took all his bones out. He was bleeding, and they had t-tubes... tubes and wires in him everywhere. I... I couldn't eat for days. I can't... I can't believe I ever wanted to be a pilot, can't believe I wanted **them** to do it. I wanted to apologize to Shinji, to tell him I understood what it did to him, but... I never got to do it." He took off his glasses and wiped his eyes. "I should have... before..."

Touji grabbed his friend's shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Hey, maybe it **will** be the last time," he said. "Then we can all go and have a proper camping trip, huh?"

Kensuke grinned weakly, and said, "Yeah... I guess I'll have to buy another tent, for the girls."

"Who said anything about separate tents?"

Kensuke grinned as he saw Hikari's face turn red. "You should be glad Asuka didn't hear that," he told Touji.

"Why?"

"'Cause that means you're only gonna get slapped once."

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"I'd like a status report, guys," Misato commented, sounding slightly annoyed.

"I've got the spear," Shinji said as his Eva hefted the two-tined weapon in its hand. It had taken the three children several minutes in the warehouse to find Lancea Longini. "We're proceeding back out to the lifts now."

"Excellent. Is EVA-01 handling any differently?" Misato asked.

"It's a little strange," Shinji admitted, "but it's okay. I can still... sense my mother, somehow. I think she's still here not because she's trapped, but because it's the only way to be with me. So it's different, but... still sort of the same."

"Good," Misato said with relief. "We definitely don't need any complications at this juncture."

"I'll say," Asuka interjected as the Evas found their way to the power lifts. "So, what's the plan, Misato? How do we kill the Devil?"

"Well, this sucker looks pretty tough," Misato admitted. "Maya and Ritsuko can't see any weakness, but I think we still have a way to attack. Each of the heads has a pretty powerful AT field, and the body has a weak AT field of its own. The body is definitely the easier target, but I don't think you'll have a good shot at it as long as the heads can still fight."

"So we take out the heads first, then," Asuka concluded. "Sounds simple enough."

"Yeah, but keep in mind that each of those heads is like an archangel all on its own," Misato replied. "You guys will have to work as a unit to take out each one. 'Simple' hardly covers it."

"Yeah, but we still don't know about the core," Shinji said. "Knocking off a head or two won't do us any good if we don't destroy the life source."

"Actually," Kaoru said, "Destroying the core might not be enough. Doing that only forces an angel to return to Heaven but Sammael has been cast out. I'm not sure what destroying his core would do in that case."

"So you're saying that hitting the core is useless?" Asuka asked.

"It doesn't matter," Misato said. "Whether we can destroy the core or not, our best course of action is still to kill off the heads. Once we have the body defenseless, then we can look for the core and figure out what to do with it."

"Well then," Asuka said, "Let's get going!"

"Where will we come out?" Shinji asked as he loaded his Eva onto one of the catapults.

"The lifts should spit you out about a kilometer away from Sammael," Misato said. "Move towards him as a unit, minimum spread. And kids?"

"Yeah?"

"Good luck."

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Sammael scooped up a pawful of the black, liquid mass of flies, letting the bloated bodies fall through his claws back to the reserve from which they came. "It is time," he announced, stirring up the lake with his talons. "Time to take the shapes I gave you long ago."

A knot formed in the seething piles beneath Sammael's feet, twisting into a new shape and color before finally solidifying into a new form with an burst of black fluid. A miniature version of the mighty dragon, with no wings, but having two extra heads, formed out of the inky insects, consuming their bodies to form its own.

This event inspired the formation of additional knots of flies, each erupting into a new form. Smaller dragons took shape by the dozens, adding their flames to the ruin being wreaked by Sammael's two hornless heads. Giant serpents, wolves, and a three-headed hound reared up out of the depths and added their efforts with tooth and claw to the damage being done by their master's claws. Other, smaller shapes, too numerous to count or categorize, seethed upwards out of the masses of flies, until the insects were gone, and the street swarmed with the all the subjects of mankind's nightmares.

Sammael's army had gathered, and as he unleashed a great bellow of triumph, they dispersed to take over the city.

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"Wow, that thing's even uglier close up," Asuka muttered as she got her first in-person glimpse of the gigantic creature tearing through the city. The three Eva units had fanned out slightly from their initial tight formation. Asuka and Kaoru flanked Shinji as they approached Sammael from the front.

The archangels had never responded to the first arrival of the Evangelions, but Sammael immediately desisted from his attacks, swinging all seven of his heads so that they faced his attackers. Fourteen eyes — black pits tinged slightly with red carefully observed the approach of the three artificial life forms, while seven mouths hung slightly open in evil grins as the three Evas drew near.

"Kids, develop your AT fields," Misato ordered.

"It does not matter," an unfamiliar voice interposed itself over the communications frequency. "You cannot hide your souls from me."

"Lorenz," Kaoru growled.

"Who?"

"Keel Lorenz."

"I am pleased you still have enough intelligence to recognize my old form, Tabris," the voice said. "A pity you were not intelligent enough to see the inevitability of my victory."

"Who is Keel Lorenz?" Shinji asked.

"The Chairman of Seele," Misato replied, her voice steely with anger. "The man who controlled Nerv from the beginning."

"You mean we've been working for the Devil?" Asuka asked.

A humorless laugh grated over the airwaves for a moment before Keel said, "Indeed you have, Miss Soryu. Everything has gone as I have planned from the beginning. I have always been in control."

"Hmph," Kaoru snorted. "You're not called the Prince of Lies for nothing, Sammael. Much has happened that you did not foresee, much that you had no chance of controlling."

"Quit jabbering guys," Misato warned. "This thing can obviously hear our radio communications, so just stick with the battle plan we already devised. Got it?"

"Sure thing, Misato!" Asuka replied.

"It's no good to try and hide your intentions from me, mortals," the leering dragon sneered. "I know everything; I see everything. I am the destined ruler of the Universe"

"Not while I'm still around you're not!" Asuka shouted, firing her positron rifle at one of the hornless heads. The ray started to dissipate when it hit the powerful AT field, but when Kaoru added his own stream of antimatter to the attack Sammael's shield started to waver. "Go!" Asuka yelled, and Shinji charged forward, dodging blasts of white-hot fire and attacks from Satan's horns.

One gout of fire hit directly in front of EVA-01, forcing Shinji to somersault forward. Halfway through the roll, he gathered the Eva's legs under it, allowing him to spring straight up when his mecha found it's feet again. Not expecting this move, Sammael momentarily lost track of Shinji, giving him an opportunity to plunge the Longinus Spear straight towards the spot where Kaoru and Asuka's beams were intersecting. The AT field tore apart like paper at the onslaught of the Spear, which practically tore that head off its neck. Shinji quickly disengaged the massive weapon and sprang back to avoid Sammael's fiery counterattack.

"Not such a good feeling, is it?" Asuka said as Sammael's six remaining heads howled in agony.

"That seemed to work pretty well," Shinji said. "Should we continue?"

"Fine by me," Asuka replied, sniping at several of the heads to keep Sammael from pursuing Shinji's retreat. Kaoru only nodded wordlessly.

"Don't get too cocky, kids," Misato warned. "You still have a long way to go on this one, and I'm sure he still has some tricks up his sleeve. We have other attack patterns we can use."

"Maybe," Shinji said, "but all the ones we learned a few months ago were for two people, or four."

"Well, no use complaining about missed opportunities at this point," Asuka said, and opened fire on the other hornless head. This time, however, Sammael had an idea what the children were planning. He began waving his other heads into the way of the beam, nullifying Asuka's attack and preventing Kaoru from taking a clear shot.

"I'm gonna sweep in," Kaoru announced, sidling his Eva towards Asuka. He had to jump several times along the way to avoid Sammael's fireblasts, and the going was somewhat slow because of the ruin that had been wreaked on the ground around the dragon. Shinji had similar problems as he fell back towards Asuka, but he mostly had to worry about damage from Sammael's horns, as the only remaining fire-breathing head was busy with Kaoru.

Finally the children got themselves in position, and Kaoru opened fire, continually shifting his aim so that Sammael couldn't block it effectively. The process of move and countermove continued for several minutes before both Kaoru and Asuka managed to lock their beams onto a head with long, straight horns. Without prompting, Shinji lunged forward immediately and plunged the Longinus Spear into the targeted head.

This time, however, the Spear got tangled up in the complicated bone structure of the horns. Shinji tugged for several seconds, but only got the Spear free when a head equipped with ram horns slammed into his Eva. The force ripped Lancea Longini out of the decimated cranium, and sent both it and EVA-01 flying nearly 500 meters. The Eva somersaulted gracelessly at the end of the flight, colliding head first with the ground, then spinning twice in the air before it crashed to earth.

Shinji grunted as he pushed his Eva up, then had to roll his Eva forward to avoid a gout of white flame directed at him. Out of the way for a moment, he collapsed again while he tried to clear the pain from his head.

Asuka moved up to try and pull him further back from the black dragon, but a second head unleashed its own fire at her, passing through her AT field as if it didn't exist. Only a skillful adjustment of footing kept her from being roasted by the white-hot flames. "Damn," she muttered, "That stuff's powerful."

"Of course," Sammael responded, laughing grimly. "I am the ultimate power in the Universe. My strength knows no limits."

"Idle boasting doesn't do much to intimidate me," Kaoru responded, covering Asuka's next advance with a tight barrage of rays from his positron rifle. The dragon's heads reared back for a moment under the onslaught, just long enough for Asuka to jump forward, grab the arm of EVA-01, and pull the purple giant out of Sammael's range.

"It's... not working," Shinji said as he managed to make his Eva stand again. "Check the heads."

Asuka swore as she came to the same realization Shinji had something she should have already noticed when that unexpected gout of flame nearly hit her. The first head of Sammael's that they'd destroyed had regained its shape and its ability to spew fire.

A low chuckle came over the communications link. "You cannot kill me one head at a time, mortals," Sammael said. "You must do it with one blow, or not at all. And I am too powerful for you to overcome so completely!" Then he spread his massive black wings and lunged forward, bathing all three Evas in a flood of white flame.

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Misato turned off the audio link, unable to bear the screaming of the children anymore. Their AT fields had disintegrated under the onslaught of Sammael's incredible power. Awash in flames, overcome by agonizing pain, the children were powerless against the great black dragon.

"Evas refusing all signals," Makoto reported. "Cannot cut neural links, cannot eject."

"Signals are nearing contamination zone," Maya added nervously. "The pain could drive them insane in a few minutes if we don't do anything."

"Well, we can't do anything from here," Misato said, "so there's just one thing for us to do. I'm going to go out there and pull them out of the plugs myself," She grabbed her pistol, slipping it into its holster beneath her jacket.

"Are you kidding?" Ritsuko asked incredulously. "Even if you made it to the battlefield **and** to the Evas, you'd burn your hands to cinders opening the plugs, if the children are even alive by then."

"If they die, then there's no sense waiting around here," Misato replied. "I've sat on my ass in this place long enough."

"I'm going with you," Makoto said, standing.

"Makoto..."

"Don't say it. If you're going, then I'm going with you."

Misato hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Fine," she said. "Shigeru, I need you to hold down the fort. Keep trying to eject the plugs from here."

"Yes, Katsuragi-san!"

"Maya, Ritsuko... figure out some way to **kill** that thing. And do it fast."

"We'll do our best," Maya offered.

"You'll succeed," Misato replied, "or we're all gonna die." She turned and ran out of the command center, Makoto fast on her heels.

"How're we gonna get to the battlefield?" Makoto asked, gasping as he tried to keep up with his lover.

"Ever driven through an N2 explosion?" Misato asked.

"Huh? Um, no..."

"I have. How much worse than that can this be?"

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"Who turned on the music?" Kensuke wondered aloud as a sweet melody filled the shelter. The simple theme, played on what sounded like a harp, had an immediate soothing effect. The adults in the room, whose postures had all spoken of tension and anxiety, became more relaxed, smiling contentedly as if everything was fine.

_Everything will be all right,_ Kensuke thought as the music started to have its effect on him. The Evas had probably already won the battle, and the city administrators would be sounding the all clear soon. _In fact,_ he thought as he heard a quiet knocking at the main door, _that's probably one of them right now._

The knocking persisted, and Kensuke began to wonder why nobody had yet answered the door. Safety and happiness were only a few moments away, after all... He stood and started towards the door himself, but stopped when he saw several adults already at work breaking the locking mechanism. In a few moments, they shelter would be open and they'd be free to go home...

Kensuke's train of thought was broken as a fist lodged itself in his stomach. The bespectacled boy coughed weakly, then asked, "Why'd you do that, Touji?"

"We've gotta get outta here," Touji said, rubbing at his artificial joints as if they were paining him. "Somethin' weird's goin' on."

Kensuke frowned and took another look around, realizing as he did so that what he'd thought was quiet knocking was a thundering impact, as if someone was using a battering ram on the main door. A few adults were trying to pry the door open, to welcome in whatever was pounding against the outside into the shelter. The rest were standing around, smiling blandly as they stared vacantly into space.

"Oh we are in some deep shit," Kensuke muttered. "Let's get the hell out." He grabbed Hikari's arm while Touji grabbed Anita's, then helped the disabled boy open the emergency exit. As the alarms went off and he shoved Hikari out into the service passage, Kensuke took one more look back into the shelter.

The doors burst inwards, flying off their hinges and through the crowd of adults with tremendous force. Nobody moved to avoid them, and several people were practically torn in half by the metal panels. Unaffected by the tragedy, the remaining inhabitants of the room simply continued to smile and stare vacantly.

As Kensuke stood frozen in horror, a black cloud seeped into the room, dark vapor obscuring the form of whatever had blown the doors apart with such power. Through the murk, only the creature's eyes could be seen red spheres of baleful light.

Kensuke felt himself pulled backwards, and realized only when the door slammed that Touji had yanked him out of the room. The spell seemed to have lifted from Hikari and Anita, and they both looked anxious to get as far away from the shelter as they could, as soon as possible.

"What was that?" Touji asked as the small troupe started running down the service corridor. "Was it an angel?"

"If it was," Kensuke answered, trying to suppress an involuntary shudder, "then when I die, I want to go to Hell."

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Makoto grabbed onto his seat with one hand, and the door with the other as the blue sports car whipped around the corner so fast that two wheels came up off the road. Misato's foot seemed to be connected to the floorboard, the intervening accelerator pedal a mere afterthought. The car shook as it came back down on all four wheels, but Misato seemed barely cognizant of the damage being done to her vehicle. Nor did she seem particularly concerned about its occupants, Makoto noted dismally as the car went over a pothole, jolting his kneecap into the dashboard.

"W-what are we going to do when we get to the battlefield," Makoto asked, hoping that conversation would distract Misato enough to slow down a little, but not enough so that she lost track of her driving.

"We're getting the kids out of those damn things," Misato replied, moving neither her foot from the accelerator nor her eyes from the road.

"Then what?"

"I don't know, Makoto. Pray, maybe? I just want the kids to stop hurting. They've suffered enough, and if we're all willing to let them burn alive so that we can protect our sorry skins, then mankind isn't worth saving anyway."

Makoto said nothing in reply, wondering, _If not the kids, then who'll save us?_ His thoughts were interrupted, however, when the car swerved to avoid a giant stepping into the road. Makoto had only a moment to catch a glimpse of blood-red skin and yellowed horns before the car flipped over.

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"Sempai," Maya said, her forehead propped on her hands, "light cancels."

"What?"

"When two beams of light merge," Maya elaborated, "and they have equal amplitude, equal frequency, and opposite phase, they cancel."

"So?"

"One plus one equals zero," Maya said.

"I think I get the picture," Ritsuko replied. Her fingers started flying over the keyboard, as she continued, "AT fields cancel when their frequencies match but their phases are opposite just like destructive interference."

"That's what I was thinking," Maya said. "So I checked Sammael's fields. Each head is slightly out of phase with the rest, so they should theoretically all cancel out. The only reason they don't is that the **weaker** field is constantly changing phase to reinforce whichever one of the head fields is about to collapse."

"So if we destroy the AT field around the body..."

"...the rest should come crashing down like a house of cards," Maya said.

"Shigeru," Ritsuko yelled, "alert Major Katsuragi immediately if the children can fight at all, they must target Sammael's body. That's what keeps his AT field intact." She nodded in response to his shout of acknowledgement, then turned back to her assistant. "You did it," she said. "Good work."

"Well, I had your help..."

"I was stumped," Ritsuko retorted. "I had no idea how to proceed. No, Maya, this was all you. I'm very proud of you."

Maya blushed deep red. "Thank you, Sempai," she murmured, "You have no idea how much that means to me."

Ritsuko pulled her chair over to sit in front of Maya, then took one of the younger woman's hands between her own. "No," she replied, "I do."

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The red ogre paused in its advance as the first shot hit it in the chest, but began moving forward again almost immediately, ambling forward with slow, clumsy steps. "Tough guy, huh?" Misato muttered as she raised the gun to fire again, "Well, we'll see how much you can take." She spared a glance at Makoto, who had his shoulder against the roof of her car, trying to push it off its side and back onto its wheels. "Hurry up, Makoto," she called as she fired into the ogre's knee, "We're in a bit of a rush."

"I'm tryin', I'm tryin'," Makoto replied, again heaving against the vehicle with all his might. The streets, however, were damp with some kind of liquid and absolutely covered in refuse both remnants of the insect ocean. His feet slipped before he could exert any force.

Misato grinned as one of her shots found the giant's knee, shattering the joint in an explosion of blood. The ogre tumbled to the ground and Misato aimed a coup de grace between its yellowed horns. To her surprise, however, the beast quickly pushed itself back up onto its feet. It took a few tentative steps to test the knee, then continued its unsteady advance on her position.

"That is **not** good," Misato murmured, replacing her clip as she sidled away from the car. To her relief, the ogre kept its attention on her, leaving Makoto free to keep trying to rescue the vehicle. "That's right, ugly," Misato yelled at the beast, "Keep following me."

The ogre did that and more, charging forward and catching Misato off guard. She managed to jump out of the way as the beast stampeded towards her, getting an ineffective shot off into its side, but she dropped her gun as the giant grabbed her arm in one of it's massive hands. Yellow-green fingernails dug into her skin as the ogre lifted her up to its eye level, fending off her kicks with its free hand. It licked its lips as it stared at her, running a slimy red tongue over its blackened teeth.

At a loss for anything else to do, Misato reached for the ogre's nearest horn and gave it a sharp yank. The yellowed bone spur came away in her hand, and blood started gushing from the spot on the creature's head where it had been. The giant dropped Misato and staggered back, clutching at its bleeding wound. Misato grinned as she realized that for whatever reason, the ogre wasn't recovering from this particular injury. "You've got a weak spot, huh?" she asked as she knelt and retrieved her gun. "I'll keep that in mind next time." She aimed for the base of the remaining horn and squeezed the trigger.

The ogre fell dead just as Makoto gave up on his leverage and backed up several meters. He got a running start, then took a flying leap, throwing all his weight against the roof of the car. He bounced off, but to his satisfaction the car wobbled, then fell back onto its wheels.

"About damn time," Misato noted as she climbed back into the driver's seat.

"Next time I'll just call a tow truck," Makoto replied as the phone started ringing. He grabbed it as Misato started the car and pulled away from the curb. _Well, it's pretty much ruined now,_ Misato thought as she surveyed the damage to her vehicle. _Maybe I can get compensation from the UN for damage sustained in the line of duty..._ She shook her head, envisioning the stacks of paperwork such a request would entail. _Easier just to try and buy a new car. Sure makes me wish I could afford insurance._

"Misato," Makoto shouted over the roar of the engine, "Shigeru says that Maya came up with a way to defeat Sammael. If we can tell the children, we still have a chance."

"Give it to me," Misato said, snatching the phone as she once again pushed the accelerator to the floor.

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Shinji moaned incoherently as he tried to collect his wits. The flames had ended a few moments ago, and with them the intense agony that reminded him of his encounter with the fifth angel. He blinked his eyes and shook his head, trying to concentrate. He had to figure out where he'd landed, where he could find the spear...

Shinji's thoughts were interrupted as something wrapped itself around his Eva's chest with crushing force. The pain forced him to exhale, but he could barely manage to breathe back in — his chest felt like someone had wrapped a steel band around it. He was reduced to shallow, panting breaths as he felt his mecha lifted. As his vision cleared he realized that Sammael had grabbed his Eva, and now held it up in front of the central head. Oily saliva dripped from the black teeth of the dragon's head, and its wickedly curved horns were tinged with gore.

"This is my time," Sammael growled. "Everything that has transpired has done so as I planned it. The angels and archangels have come and gone, and none besides them can oppose me... not even you, Ikari Shinji... not even God's chosen conduit. I will consume your soul, mortal, and with it I shall draw the spirits of all mankind into me. With that power at my command, I will at last be able to topple Him, and take my rightful place on His Sapphire Throne. My hour has come at last!"

Shinji heard Kaoru cough in his plug, and Asuka moan quietly. He took as deep a breath as he could, and replied, "I won't let you do this!" What he meant to come out as shout, however, emerged as barely a whisper, timid and weak.

"**You** won't **let** me?" Sammael asked, then laughed uproariously. "**You** have no choice in the matter. I am all-powerful! None can oppose me! I am more powerful even than God!" He began laughing again, but stopped at the sound of a new voice, deeper and louder than thunder.

"Who is like God?" the voice asked, and Sammael's eyes widened. The pressure around Shinji's chest vanished as the dragon dropped EVA-01. Shinji barely managed to keep from falling flat on his face, pushing his mecha back up into a crouch.

Kaoru laughed weakly as his own Eva got to its knees. He said, "You... miscounted, Adversary," as he got his feet underneath him. Shinji raised an eyebrow and turned to face the source of the new voice.

Amid the ruined buildings of Tokyo-3 stood the largest of the Archangels yet. It wore a coat of steel chain mail, and carried a steel sword and matching shield. Steel boots and greaves protected his calves and feet. The armaments were all plain, simple objects designed for utility rather than aesthetics. Beauty came with the great emerald wings that grew from the angel's back, its bright emerald eyes, and saffron-colored hair. The angel took a ready stance, shield forward and sword raised, and once again asked, "Who is like God?"

The words seemed to enrage Sammael, who bellowed and charged forward, mouths spewing white fire. Even as he did so, however, the sky filled with light so bright that Shinji had to momentarily shield his eyes.

"What's going on?" Shinji called out.

"Ragnarok," Kaoru calmly replied as his Eva stood. "The rules are disposed with: angels no longer need their cores to come to earth. God has opened the heavens, and all the angels and righteous souls have come to make war with Sammael."

"**All** of them?" Shinji asked, then cringed as an all-too-familiar octahedral form passed overhead.

"All."

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"Damn," Touji muttered as he tested his weight against a pile of rubble blocking the path. Fleeing the subterranean shelters had taken him and his friends out of immediate danger, but the surface had brought its own perils. What few buildings had not been retracted into the Geo-Front had been torn to pieces, creating a haphazard labyrinth of ruins and debris. Black-green ichor pooled in the streets and dripped from the lamps, releasing a sickening, sulfurous odor. In the harsh light of the glowing sky, the streets of Tokyo-3 seemed a landscape out of some other planet.

"Dead end, huh?" Kensuke asked, his voice muffled by the camouflage bandana he'd tied around his face to ward off the stench.

"Yeah," Touji replied, kicking the pile of twisted girders and concrete in disgust. He frowned as the motion caused most of the pile to resettle. "It's too heavy to push out of the way," he said, "but not stable enough to climb over. We've gotta turn back, find another way."

Kensuke shook his head, squinting in the bright light from above. "This is gonna take forever," he whispered.

"Touji!" Hikari called, running up to the two boys, Anita in tow. She leaned against her boyfriend, breathing heavily from the exertion. "I heard... noises," she explained between gasps. "It sounded... like... something big... was coming."

"Get behind me," Touji muttered, gently pushing Hikari and Anita away from the mouth of the alley. Adopting a stance he remembered from judo class, he prepared to face whatever monster had decided to hunt them in this blasted landscape. He jumped slightly and moved to the side as he realized that Kensuke had joined him, brandishing a wooden plank.

"It's my turn to fight," the other boy explained.

A gasp from behind him brought Touji's attention back to the mouth of the alley. A gigantic grey wolf with glowing white eyes blocked the exit, saliva dripping from yellowed fangs set in its black gums. Long nails clicked against the pavement as the monster advanced, the stench from its mangy fur almost as bad as the fumes rising from the foul liquid pooling on the asphalt.

_We don't have a chance,_ Touji realized as the creature continued towards him at a leisurely pace. The beast was large enough to easily swallow him whole even if he'd had a weapon on hand, Touji wasn't sure anything short of a grenade could hurt it. Nonetheless, he held his ground, warning the creature, "Get back."

The wolf's eyes narrowed, then its jaw dropped open a little wider and its blackened tongue lolled out. It seemed almost as if the monster were laughing at him. The beast then hunched down, ready to crouch.

Suddenly the alley went dark for a moment, and a familiar form interposed itself between the children and the wolf. Touji recognized it instantly, though he'd seen the black giant with its impossibly long arms only once before.

It then spoke, in a voice Touji also recognized the same voice that had filled his mind every harrowing minute he'd spent inside EVA-03. "Allow me to make amends," Bardiel said, then reached out with one massive arm and seized the cringing wolf by the throat. "You have overstepped your bounds, Fenris," the angel announced. "This child is under **my** protection." In an almost casual motion, the Eva twisted its hand and ripped off the demon's head.

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"It's a stalemate," Shinji said as the emerald-winged angel rammed its shield into one of Sammael's heads. Neither of the giant combatants seemed to be tiring of the struggle, but neither seemed to be doing any lasting damage either. The archangel often gained the upper hand over its adversary, but then one or two of Sammael's heads would regenerate and the battle would even out for a while.

"Michael's power is limited," Kaoru said. "He's strong enough to wound Sammael, and that was enough to force the Adversary out of heaven, but now there's nowhere else for Lucifer to go. The best Michael can do is battle Sammael to a tie."

"So what happens?" Asuka asked. "Do they just keep fighting forever?"

"No," Shinji replied. "We have to help."

"How?" Asuka asked. "It's not like anything we did before made a difference."

The conversation was interrupted as something banged against Shinji's foot. As his Eva staggered slightly, Shinji looked down to see Misato's car. The Major kicked its ruined door open and stepped out, waving her cell phone. Shinji nodded, getting her meaning, and switched his communication channel over to her cellular frequency.

"What are you doing here?" Shinji asked as Misato brought the phone up to her ear.

"The AT fields around here have cut off your telemetry to headquarters," Misato explained. "I came to help Maya explained things to me just before my cell link to her went out. Her explanation was really complicated, but the gist of things is this: the AT field around Sammael's **body** is the key. If you can destroy that, he should fall apart."

"Got it," Asuka said, listening in on the conversation. "So if we break the body first, we can beat him."

"Exactly," Misato said.

"Get out of here quickly, Misato-san," Shinji said, "it's too dangerous."

"I'm on my way," the major replied, getting back into her car with the phone still against her ear. "Good luck, kids."

"Thanks," Shinji said, then switched back to the normal communication channel. "Do you think we can make it work?" he asked.

"As long as our archangel buddy up there keeps Sammael's heads occupied, we'll probably have a good chance," Asuka said.

"Yeah, but that's a big body," Kaoru replied. "Where do you stab it so that the AT field collapses?"

"I'm not sure," Shinji said, "but we don't have any option but to try. Maybe I can find a good spot if I get up on his back."

"We'll hoist you up onto him from behind," Kaoru suggested as Shinji hefted the Longinus Spear.

"Good idea, Kaoru-kun," Asuka replied. "Let's get into a triangle formation and get this done!" She and the fallen angel paired up behind Shinji to form a wedge, and on her command they started charging towards the huge body of the seven-headed dragon. As the group drew closer, EVA-02 and -05 grabbed hold of EVA-01's arms, adding the force of their arms as EVA-01 jumped.

Shinji landed on Sammael's back in a crouch, skidding across the AT field for a moment before he came to a stop, sinking a bit into it. He was nearly at the tail end of the immense large dragon. One of Sammael's heads turned to look at him and narrowed its eyes as it realized who the new weight was. The tail shook, and Shinji was almost thrown off, but he managed to grab a hold of a scale and start pulling himself forward. Soon, Sammael's attention was once again put fully to the forward as the other two children rejoined the fight against him, sniping at the heads when Michael's sword temporarily negated the individual AT fields.

Shinji began running forward on the dragon's back, scanning for anything that might indicate where the fiend's core was. He stopped as he came to a strange pattern that had been worked into the scales. It was almost impossible to see a pattern of dark crimson on black, composed of nine circles and fourteen lines. Shinji stood at one end of it, and at the other end, two lines ended at a spot where a circle obviously should have been. Shinji thought the pattern seemed familiar... and for some reason it conjured up memories of his father.

"Here goes nothing," Shinji muttered, and lifted the spear. EVA-01 charged along the pattern, jumping into the air at the last moment and plunging Lancea Longini into the spot where the final circle should have been.

The spear tore through the dragon's skin, then began to move downward of its own accord, dragging EVA-01 with it. Through flesh and bone the spear plunged, down to a core composed of black stone that flickered at its edges with red. The spear shattered the surface of the core.

Shinji's world went dark.

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Shinji opened his eyes, then blinked several times to clear his blurred vision. After a moment, the man in front of him came into focus a man wearing a familiar pair of orange-tinted glasses. "Father," Shinji half-growled, standing up from a kneeling position he didn't know he'd adopted. Seeing that his father gave no response, Shinji tried to take in his surroundings. Aside from his father, however, everything was featureless blackness. "What is this place?" he asked.

"I don't know," Gendo replied. "I no longer know anything that can help me."

"Well, you know at least one thing," Shinji said. "You know how it feels to be me." He glanced down at his hands, noting with indifference that they were still covered by his plugsuit. "I never had any idea what to do... how to make you..."

"Make me what?"

"You know. I asked you."

Gendo nodded sharply, the slightest hint of a frown tugging at the corners of his lips. "I made sure you never knew anything," he said after a moment. "Ignorance and pain made you easier to use a better tool."

"Is that how you thought of me?" Shinji asked, shivering briefly as a chill passed over him. "A tool? A toy for your games?"

"I... didn't know any other way to think," Gendo replied, still contemplating the nothingness beneath his feet. "I didn't know how to make things work without your mother I... needed her. I had no chance of raising you properly, so..."

"So?" Shinji screamed, "So what? So you threw me away without even making an attempt to raise me? " The boy's fists clenched convulsively, and he paused, surprised to find something in one of them. A knife, much like that his Eva used, had appeared in his right hand. "Did you ever consider **trying**?" he asked, advancing on his father. "Did you ever think that I might have forgiven you a few little mistakes along the way, if I knew you loved me?"

Gendo shook his head, still staring down into oblivion. "I failed you," he said. "I can make no further excuses... I saw you like I saw everyone except your mother you were all just meat. Just flesh and bones. I could never see your souls like I could see hers." He pulled off the orange glasses and held them in front of his face. "Even when I looked directly at them, it was like they weren't there."

"'Just meat?' Was Rei 'just meat', too, farther?" Shinji asked.

Gendo nodded slowly. "In the end, that's how I saw everyone."

Shinji glanced down at the knife. "I want to hurt you," he whispered. "I want to make you feel every little bit of pain you put me, Asuka, Touji, the whole world through. I... I want you to know how it felt... for us... to be 'just meat'."

Gendo's expression did not change. "I deserve whatever you wish to do," he said.

Shinji raised the knife to his father's throat. "I had a vision once," he whispered, "in the Eva. I saw my enemy."

"Who was it?"

"You."

"And what will you do to your enemy?"

Shinji tensed himself to drive the knife home, but then paused. Almost experimentally, he straightened his fingers, watching as the knife fell. It seemed to travel in slow motion, drifting sluggishly downward until it got swallowed up in the darkness near his feet. "I'm sorry, father," he said. "It's not... not my place to punish you. I wish... things could have been better."

"It's my fault," Gendo said.

"I forgive you," Shinji said, then leaned forward and embraced the man he'd spent most of his life hating. As if from far away, Shinji heard a voice he did not recognize howling in agony. Then darkness became light, and Shinji's world faded away once again.

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Well thats all there is to sparkys story if you would like to finish it give me a yell.


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